Tulip king Paul Botman publishes book, Irene Schouten receives first edition

Paul Botman (77) once started at his father’s family business. Together they worked hard and mainly focused on growing vegetables. But when Paul was about 23 years old, he started having back problems and the entrepreneurial spirit in him started to think about an alternative.

“If you have lifted 35 kg cabbage crates for a few years and you lie on your knees for 12 hours a day harvesting red beets, you discover: ‘If I have to do that for another 40 years, then they can do it for me. hoe’.”

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At the time, the doctor said to Paul: ‘You’d better start a cigar shop with that back, because this won’t work’. But Botman was not put off by the doctor and started looking for smart alternatives, where he would have to lift less.

“I already knew 30 years ago that people were crazy about tulips,” says Botman. Which therefore decided to focus on the flowers. “Now 30 years later, people are still crazy about tulips,” laughs Botman. Bloomia has grown into the largest tulip grower in the Netherlands and is the market leader on the east coast of the United States. Botman wrote the book together with the help of guest speakers.

Book

A total of 1,000 books have been printed. The total amount raised will be doubled by Bloomia and will go entirely to Phundundua foundation that works to combat poverty in Africa.

Botman had thought carefully about who would be the first to receive his book. “I immediately thought of Irene Schouten,” he continues. “Of course she also comes from a tulip family. Fortunately, I know her father well and she is willing to be present at the book presentation.”