The Story of Grace Mweru, the Founder of FloGarden Resort in Ruiru,

Before Grace Mweru started her blooming FloGarden Resort in Ruiru, she was in the hospitality industry for a long time, “I have worked in Dubai in a five-star hotel,” she told Enterprise Magazine’s Kimani Patrick during an Enterprise Talk. “And I have also been a cabin crew so I have been traveling around the world.”

Her decision to build FloGarden was inspired by her friend who had brought her to see the dams located about a kilometer from Thika Superhighway and knew well how passionate Grace was with water. By then, there were other resorts around the dams, and Gracey (as her friends refer to her), was really interested in creating her own.

That was back in 2016 and by 2017, she had already secured land around Mugutha dam in Juja Constituency. “I started coming up with a garden because I wanted a photo scenic place and that is where the name FloGarden came from,” she said.

Grace was raised in a family of entrepreneurs; her mum was into photography and ventured into salons. Unfortunately, she lost her at a very young age.  Upon completing high school, she decided to do farming to enable her to get money to pay for her college fees. She used to grow onions along Kangundo road. Later on, she met a lady named Lillian who used to take people to Dubai in the various meetings that she used to attend. She was offered free hospitality training, was interviewed and luckily enough, she secured herself a job in Dubai.

In a span of one year, she had gotten herself a promotion. “I started to do some investments bit by bit because I had a dream of coming and doing a major thing in Kenya,” she says. While in Dubai, she used to import hair and beauty products because she had an opportunity to travel to China where such stuff is cheap. She would get the products from China and Dubai and import them to Kenya. She continued to say that it was such a good venture back in the days before it was flooded.

“However, it was not easy because I was not in the country. I would import things and trust people to run the business for me, and I lost quite a huge amount of money but this never discouraged me from pursuing entrepreneurship.”

The FloGarden Resort was not what she exactly wanted to venture in; it was an opportunity that happened to come by her. Initially, she wanted to deal with the Airbnb business.

She first started with a garden where people would come with their drinks just to chill out for picnics, photo sessions, and video shoots. “I saw an opportunity of starting off a kitchen and a bar,” she added. People would come with their drinks and when their drinks would be over, they would struggle to get more food. “I was the chef, the manager, the waitress, so I was the one going around checking with my customers.”

At the start, she only had two employees, a cleaner and a security guard. As of now, she has more than 20 employees. However, she aspires to grow more and build an international brand. “I want it to be an icon in the world, which will come to happen, I will tap everything that will make it happen and bring the best that will be admired all over the world.”

Her resort is now a place where people hold events such as weddings, baby showers, birthdays, family gatherings, and many more. It is a place loved by people due to its beautiful views of the dam just next to the garden.

It has a swimming pool, bouncing castle, boat rides, speedboats, swings, and slides. During the weekends, the place is always flooded with people for fun activities. It also has an open room where people sit and watch various games and another private room for training and conferences, all with a good view of the dam.

The beautiful garden space is always flocked over the weekend with events and for one to secure space, they always have to book earlier enough. “We work along with so many service providers that we trust to bring the best,” added Gracey. She advises other entrepreneurs to always do the vetting and determine the best when working with outside suppliers.

Having kicked off in 2019, her business was hit by Covid-19 in its early stages of growth. That was the time when social gatherings were banned and eateries were closed. “I would say I was shocked because it was an abrupt thing, remember I had staff that I didn’t know what to tell, and to make the matters worse we were new in the market, we were just trying to climb.”

By then, she had employed many staff members, everything was running smoothly and she did not know what to do. She was forced to call a meeting with her staff to try to brainstorm with them on the way forward. Her biggest worry being new in the market was what she was to tell her staff, how they would go back home and take care of their families. Some had to leave since the business could not sustain them at that time, and this was really painful for Gracey.

“One thing I learned about Covid-19 is resilience, things will never work the way you want them to happen and you need to have a proper plan from the word go,” she advised.

Gracy aspires to start a Real-Life Training Centre. Her advice to young people is that it’s never too late to start doing anything.  She advises them to not be discouraged by the little they have as it can always help them do marvelous for them. “Most of the best dreams are in the grave,” says Gracey. She adds that if you have something, start it today.

She challenges women to not look up to men to make their dreams come to reality. “It is you that will make yourself happy, it is you that will bring your dreams to reality”, concluded Gracey.