A Modern-Day War of the Roses Plays Out in Africa
How a $10 million investment in Ethiopia blossomed into an upstart rival to Kenya for control of Europe's flower trade
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In a giant warehouse near Lake Ziway in central Ethiopia, hundreds of women in aprons work at yellow workbenches under the flags of Dutch soccer clubs PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, sorting bunches of multicolored roses.
Within two days the stems, shipped in perforated cardboard tubes from Dutch-owned AQ Roses’ flower farm, will be on sale at florists across Europe.