About us

Our story

Our history

Brothers Paul and Marc Holla were instilled with a passion for growing roses by their father Peter. As young boys, they walked through the greenhouse every day with their father, from 1986 in the Netherlands and from 2005 in Ethiopia. Since 2015, Paul and Marc have been at the helm of the family business as the 2nd generation.

Our nursery is located on Lake Ziway, approximately 160 km south of the capital Addis Ababa. The nursery has an area of 42 hectares and is part of a group of nurseries with a total area of more than 400 hectares.

Due to increased employment opportunities and the associated social services, the population in the village of Ziway has more than doubled since 2005.

Our motto

The motto of the Holla family is 'Give a rose... get a smile! '. This not only applies to the rose lover who puts roses on the table, but also to the social impact of cultivation. We take our responsibility seriously, the certifications from Fairtrade, MPS-A, MPS-SQ, MPS-GAP, GRASP, EHPEA-Gold and ETI confirm this. Holla Roses is FSI Compliant. In this way, together with our customers, we actively contribute to transparency, responsible production and trade, a positive impact and an improvement of the floriculture chain.

What we stand for

We are Holla Roses

We are trustworthy

We are honest, reliable and have integrity in our actions. For us, this means that we do what we say and say what we do, an agreement is an agreement, every customer has a fixed point of contact. Our employees are open, honest and respectful towards both the customer and each other. This is how we work on sustainable relationships with our customers.

We deliver quality

We want to get the best out of ourselves and each other. With our knowledge and experience, we are continuously looking for ways to innovate and further improve the shelf life and quality of our roses.

We deliver customisation

We carefully tailor the delivery of our roses to the specific wishes of our customers. Customisation is the starting point of all of our customer relationships

Sustainable cultivation is in our DNA

We take that extra step. Complying with all rules, regulations and sustainability certifications is a given, but we go further. Sustainable cultivation is a process of trial and error, but it comes naturally to us.

We offer an extensive range

With passion, care and an eye for the market, Holla Roses offers a wide range of multiple varieties and colors of 'single' and 'spray' roses.

The vision of Holla Roses

We believe in providing a socially responsible and climate neutral rose from Ethiopia. This is reflected in the way in which we grow roses. For example, in Ethiopia we only use renewable energy sources, we limit the use of chemicals by applying integrated pest management, we have wetlands to purify and reuse water and we use drip irrigation to limit water consumption. We also have a waste management system to minimize and reuse our waste.

We prioritize the importance of sustainable and socially responsible production of roses. Growing roses, especially in a country like Ethiopia, also means taking care of the local community. The socially responsible foundation has been laid with, among other things, a school for the children of its employees, a hospital and a sports facility.