Elena Terán | General Manager  Florequisa

What has initially triggered your interest in the world of flowers?

• What has initially triggered your interest in the world of flowers?
  The reason is anecdotal because I am a lawyer, I was in a very good position in my profession and I was hired to do Florequisa’s constitution management and that allowed me to interact with the current partners. The reason why I will accept this relationship was not only because of my professional framework as a lawyer to form the company but it was because I realized as social being that country women were a group of abandoned people; women who were usually heads of household because their husbands for any reason had gone away to work or simply because of bad relationships and there was a poor female population; So I thought it was time to collaborate so that rural women could have a solid occupation and they could be heads of households with possibilities for the family to improve.

How long have you been professionally engaged in the flower industry?

• If I’m not mistaken i have been involved in the industry like 35 to 36 years old.

What are some significant milestones in your career? Can you briefly describe some of your most special or most appreciated projects?

• In my profession as lawyer I have been fortunate to collaborate in the tax court.
  As university teacher I have reached many dean positions.
  In the flowers industry I am Florequisa’s general manager for more than 30 years.
  The achievement that has most filled my soul and my spiritual part is to have made that country women have a livelihood for their families and truly be a useful being for society.

What are some common challenges that women face in this industry? And what kind of challenges have you encountered personally? How did you go about overcoming them?

• As a woman in floriculture, the biggest challenge is that many years ago , floriculture was a new activity for Ecuador and agriculture is also a very difficult sector. That has been my main challenge in agriculture, however I have been an honest, brave person with few ambitions but very hardworking.

What’s your best word of advice to young women starting out in this industry?

• That they commit themselves 100%, since flowers business does not allow combining it with any other additional thing, in order to make things right we have show 100% commitment to the business ; to have clear objectives and keep in mind that real aspiration is to serve people we work with . I think in all areas devotion and honesty must prevail.

What do you love most about your work?

• I love having changed the reality of an impoverished and humiliated area and converting this social group of individuals into people who are useful for themselves, useful for the company and for the country.

What’s your special flower (if there is a special one)? What flowers do you love most?

• My special flower may sound selfish but it is the flower that manages the company and that is obviously gypsophila and carnation; in both crops we have been very successful and we are really pleased with the results we have obtained through our effort; Our flower has positioned itself in the market. We have carried out both crops with a constant struggle and absolute dedication that flowers need, flowers are beautiful but difficult.
• I like Hydrangea ; I would not like to leave the company without making a Hydrangea project.

Apart from flowers, what else are you passionate about?

• I am a fairly calm person in my private life and what I like is reading. My reading is of all kinds both literary and scientific, those are my favorite. I like music, a little pictorial art. I like to know how things are going and how the world evolves in this field. That is all.

Anything else you’d like to tell our readers?

• I would like to tell the readers that floriculture is really an activity that has greatly helped the unemployment of Ecuador and that flowers industry constitute a difficult activity but it gives results in the measure of effort and dedication we put on it.
  I think that having reached a solid position in the company has been the result of a great effort and respect for what I do and respect for the people who live with us in our country.