Meet Lucille, a young, beautiful and vibrant French-born, Kenyan-based an impact, in this case women empowerment. lady who has found a whole lot of love in Kenya, a country she now calls home. She welcomes us into her office beaming, and it is the start of a series of impactful conversations and hearty laughter. This is the story of Lucille Clement, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Red Lands Roses flower farm. Let’s read on, shall we?
“I was working at the French Embassy. Red Lands Roses used to supply flowers to the embassy for big events. I used to host an annual event that involved wine tasting and building business networks. We held one of these events in June last year, and it was after I gave my vote of thanks that I met Isabelle Spindler, the founder and executive director of Red Lands Roses who was also one of the guests.” She begins. She tells us that she had been in the country for two years and that her contract with the French Embassy was coming to an end. Spindler was particularly impressed by her demeanor and approached her for a marketing role at the flower farm. Initially, Lucille had wanted to renew her contract with the embassy but more interestingly, her heart was pulling towards Red Lands Roses. “I wanted to stay in Kenya. My key goal was to be part of something that empowers women [especially in Africa]. While at the agriculture section at the embassy, I realized that agriculture is a great way for women to achieve economic empowerment…I once did a project on the aquaculture sector in Kenya and it was overly impressive seeing how many women were involved in it.”
Lucille goes on to tell us that it took quite a while for her to be adapt to living in the country compared to the experience she had while living around West Africans in France- given that it took a while for the locals to warm up to her too but as time went by, she finally found her niche. It meant even more to her that she uses her work to paint Africa as a whole in a beautiful light. Red Lands Roses provided the ideal opportunity as it is sells luxury flowers, predominantly serving markets in Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. Her goal was to show the world that there is so much more to the continent and that it has got a lot to offer as opposed to the depiction of war, terrorism,
hunger and poverty that is put up in the media for the world to believe. She speaks so lovingly of our country, her experience and progress so far living here. Working with Red Lands Roses was everything she dreamt of as she got to work in Africa as she desired, she stepped up career wise and achieving the biggest goal which was creating an impact, in this case women empowerment.
