Welcome to ‘s weekly series ‘How I got my job as…’ where we speak to some incredible entrepreneurs both based in the UAE and globally to find out about their career paths that led them to where they are now; what their daily routines look like; the advice they’d give to those starting out; and the hurdles they’ve had to overcome.
This week we chat with the Founder of Go Flower, Benn Davey, on the launch of his successful business and breaking into the flower industry.
What was your favourite subject at school?
I was always more creative than Academic Art & English were my A* subjects.
What was your first job?
My first job was a very English paper round, I would ride around the country village I once lived in delivering newspapers to people’s homes.
What eventually brought you to Dubai?
Opportunity! I ran a marketing agency and we saw huge potential in Dubai. Dubai has given me so much opportunity and cultural enrichment. A far cry from the paper round in the village.
What inspired you to go into the flower industry?
The flower industry has not seen much change in the last decade and I saw room to disrupt it. By cutting out the middle man and offering a direct from Grower model has allowed us to offer fresher premium flowers at an affordable price with minimal waste.
What are the key elements of your role?
Honestly, the key elements change daily! Today I was helping with deliveries, yesterday I was planning our June Collections and tomorrow I may be inspecting the quality of our flowers and catching up with the team.
Talk us through your daily routine.
Water, coffee, walk dogs and shower. Then, I catch up with my assistant Oriana, who keeps everything running smoothly. She’ll often be at the end of a call if you speak with us! A lot of time goes into planning each monthly collection so just as we’ve launched one collection we are shooting the next. May has seen us launch THE NUDE, JUNGLE FEVER & DESERT ROSE along with our ever-changing SEASONS BEST Collection. This June we are launching Prism, stay tuned!
What advice do you have for anyone looking to follow in the same footsteps?
You will always have supporters & critics so try not to focus too much on others opinions and stay focused. Try not to look at your competition too much, focus on what you think the market needs and push forward. Your customers will soon give feedback!
What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
Be honest, authentic & unafraid to be vulnerable. It took me a long time to embrace this advice, but it was life-changing when I did.
And what is the worst?
Any advice that discourages you from doing something.
What has been the biggest challenge you had to overcome in your career?
Balancing risk is a constant challenge. When to invest and when to pull back on promoting the brand, but the more mature the brand becomes the more calculated the risks become.
What are your goals for 2021?
GO FLOWER has just had its first brand refresh since launching which was very exciting. We are now launching beautiful homeware rang consisting of hand-blown bud vases, bespoke candles and locally made ceramics designed perfectly for our flowers!
My goal for 2021 is to introduce consumers to our flower revolution and hope everyone really gets to experience the difference for themselves.
