Violeta Angelova was born in Bulgaria and lives in The Netherlands since the beginning of her study at the HAS. She is especially interested in the business side of her study. Violeta: “The new marketing possibilities are important. To interact and react to changes in consumer behaviour, especially now during the corona crisis, we need to implement online marketing and e-commerce in our horticultural businesses.”
FOCUS: DEVELOPING NEW CONCEPTS AND BUSINESS FOR THE HORTICULTURE MARKET
Bulgaria is known for the Bulgarian rose, used for essential oils and perfume. When she moved to the Netherlands, Violeta was surprised to see that the scent of flowers is not a big thing here. “In Bulgaria we would first assess a flower by its smell, here it is more about shelf life. I guess that is why I’m a fan of lavender”, she laughs.
For her future, Violeta has no strict direction yet and a lot of ideas. “I like new concepts. During the corona crisis there was this initiative of consumers being able to buy surprise boxes with flowers online. These were rejected potted plants, plants that didn’t make it through the quality control. But there is still a market for it and the flowers didn’t have to go to waste. I like that. These kind of new and fresh initiatives make our industry also more attractive to young people. I see myself working on the business side of horticulture. Maybe in supply chain planning, or translating research into concepts the market is asking for.”