“God created The Earth but the Dutch made Holland”. For evidence of how to generate wealth from nothing look no further than The Netherlands. A nation audacious enough to reclaim 13% of its land from the sea is a natural breeding ground for visionaries. This story tells how one Dutchman’s big idea about ‘designing’ cost-saving plants turned into a €-million business.
The Netherlands is famed for its financial prudence, their expert handling of money making them one of the global banking powerhouses. No boom and bust for them – Throughout the current crisis Holland’s AAA Credit Rating has been bullet-proof.
The Dutch learned thriftiness the hard way. Four centuries ago, during the country’s Golden Age there was an abundance of disposable wealth. People’s fever for building large houses meant gardens shrank in size or were eliminated altogether. The result: Tulipomania – a surge in the popularity of tulips and their bulbs. Everybody, from all classes, invested their life savings in bulbs. Fortunes were made but then BANG! the bubble burst, crippling the Dutch economy. A harsh lesson, but one that this people learned and later profited from. Thrift has become part of Dutch DNA.
Which brings us to Maurits Hildering. Hildering was a scientist by profession until one day his ‘thrift gene’ caused him to have a Eureka! moment. What if a plant could be engineered to live self-sufficiently indoors without any need for light, heat, water, food, pesticides or maintenance. Imagine the reductions you could achieve in the carbon footprint of the typical office plant. Imagine the resources a business could save.
Hildering began experimenting in his lab after work, testing a number of plants and preservation techniques before hitting on a successful formula. His Big Idea was achievable! Leaves from a number of plant species can be preserved perfectly with a natural substance, glycerine, to create a variety of super plants. These plants he named “Mummie Plants” (after the Egyptian mummification process) and a business was born. Maurits the scientist was now Maurits the entrepreneur.
Mummie Plants quickly took off in thrift-conscious Holland and is now a million-euro business. Now Irish businesses can experience the cost and headache-saving benefits of these plants. Mummie Plants Ireland is open and at your service. Here’s to helping Irish companies economise and workforces thrive with the help of the Dutch, masters in the art of saving.
