As a child, Jasmin Deonauth somehow got it into her head that she wanted to be a successful businesswoman. The idea persisted through her early years and into womanhood and when her husband suggested to her that they open a flower shop in Washington DC, where they were residing, she jumped at the opportunity.
She recalls that it was a headlong plunge which met with the vigorous disapproval of relatives who queried her decision on the grounds that she “didn’t know a thing about flowers”. In fact, she still recalls the challenge of engaging expert wholesalers in Maryland on the matter of buying flowers in circumstances where she herself was a rank amateur. “Sheer confusion,” is how she summed up the experience. After that, she had to confront the challenge of putting together floral arrangements; a hurdle which she crossed by reading a book on the subject. When her first floral arrangement was sold she kept the money as a sort of souvenir.
Having settled on a career as a florist, Jasmin pursued a one-year diploma programme in Floral Arrangement at the University of Maryland after which she expanded her operation, hiring five assistants to sell her flowers at metro stations in the DC area. With an expanded business came additional responsibility. First, there was the challenge of financing a growing operation including the cost of licensing her staff to sell flowers on the streets. She had little choice but to enter into credit arrangements with wholesalers, which they were initially reluctant to extend. Eventually, however, her success made them more amenable. It was tough but rewarding work, Jasmin says.
On July 3, 1993 the family returned Guyana to and to their Hunter Street Albouystown home. They took two years off, relaxing and enjoying themselves, then back to work they went, farming at Canal Number One. Jasmin recalls that their decision to return to the “family lands” was influenced largely by the fact that the then president, Janet Jagan, was encouraging landowners to take up farming. She recalls, however, that prices were “not encouraging”. It was the 2005 Great Flood, however, that caused the family to give up farming.
After that she and her husband went into the furniture business. That too had its problems the biggest one of which was the fact that workers consistently failed to meet deadlines.
For Jasmin there was now no place else to go but “back to flowers”; she resumed her old trade at the family home in Hunter Street and, over time, did well enough to necessitate a move into the heart of the city. Her current location, in Church Street directly opposite St George’s Cathedral is the third premises she has occupied in the city. Nesha’s Flower Land has since grown into one of the more recognized flower shops in the city.
The vast majority of Jasmin’s flowers are imported from Miami. Perhaps surprisingly, she says, locally cultivated flowers are more expensive. Rainbow colours are particularly popular among Guyanese.
She looks forward to those seasons that are associated with flowers; like St Valentine’s Day, Secretaries Day and Teachers Day. Setting aside those days, however, Guyana boasts a considerable population of flower lovers, many of whom are Jasmin’s customers. Flowers are also popular as emotional tokens, pressed into service by people who may simply wish to say “I’m sorry,” or “Thank you” or simply “Have a nice day”.
Jasmin’s work as a florist does not relieve her of the responsibilities of being a wife, a mother to four children and manager of the Bollywood Club, where she spends most of her weekends. Flowers, however, remain her first love. She recalls paying people to plant flowers – purely for beautification – on a stretch of land from St Stephen Street to La Penitence Market. Those residents who have been lucky enough to have flowers planted in front of their yards began to tend those flowers until a ‘clean-up campaign’ saw mud being removed from the canal and dumped on the plants. “It broke my heart and I never did it again,” Jasmin says.
Her business opens from 08:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs Monday to Friday and for half the day on Saturdays. The establishment provides a delivery service on working days and on Sundays, if necessary.
