Growth industry: graduate’s preserved roses business set for further expansion

2nd December, 2024

From the Peruvian jungle to the shores of the Mediterranean, alumna Alessia Rengifo Barboza has shown resilience and determination are key to realizing your dreams. 

As the saying goes: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Few alumni can have lived that maxim quite as fully as Alessia Rengifo Barboza, who launched her business Infinity Roses on Valentine’s Day in 2024.

The preserved flowers industry is perhaps not the most obvious career choice for a Les Roches graduate, but Alessia’s journey has been anything but conventional. Having been born in the Amazon jungle in her native Peru, she was surrounded by rich flora and fauna, which has always been an inspiration.

Throughout her life, Alessia has experienced a series of ups and downs that could have discouraged less determined individuals. It’s testament to her resilience that she has now fulfilled her ambition of starting an independent company doing something she loves. Now with her sights set firmly on growth, she took time out of her schedule to reveal more about her new enterprise and the path plotted to its launch.

The road to Les Roches

So how has someone born and raised alongside the Ucayali river in the Peruvian jungle ended up running a fledgling Marbella-based international preserved flower business? And how does a Les Roches education fit into that journey?

“Although I really wanted to be an architect at first, I ended up studying business administration because you couldn’t study architecture in my home town, I didn’t have the financial means to study elsewhere and I knew it would be easier to get a job with such a qualification,” she says. “When I graduated, I moved from the small city of Pucallpa to the capital Lima seeking opportunities to excel. I also left home at the age of 16 for personal reasons, which ultimately helped me realize my dream.

“Lima was where I first started working in hospitality businesses such as restaurants, casinos and spas. But although Peru is a beautiful country, it is quite unsafe as well, so after a while I decided to move to Europe.”

Alessia initially tried going to Germany to study at the University of Heidelberg, but struggled with the language requirements. It was then she discovered Les Roches.

“I then had the idea about going to Spain because, as a Peruvian, I speak the language,” she adds. “Having worked in hospitality already, I thought hotel management would be a good choice, so I searched for schools and found Les Roches. I applied at the end of 2019, passed my English language test and was accepted onto the postgraduate diploma program for 2020.”

Highs and lows

With the scene all set to come to Europe, find a better life, study hotel management and open up a world of opportunities, the future looked incredibly bright. But after two wonderful weeks on campus, the global pandemic struck.

“Ideally, I wanted to suspend my studies, but that was not possible,” says Alessia. “Instead, we had online classes, which was not ideal, but I know it was the same for everyone else at that time. It’s a shame because those first two weeks were amazing on campus. However, I did get to spend time in the food and beverage department there as a way of completing my work experience and that was great.”

Although there was no graduation ceremony, which took some of the gloss off Alessia’s educational experience, she was at least awarded the diploma. However, the better life she was hoping for had to be put on hold. The pandemic severely impacted the global labor market and, rather than returning to her home in the Peruvian jungle, she decided to stay in Spain to find opportunities, which meant applying for refugee status.

“When you claim residence as a refugee, they take away your passport, so you’re left in limbo waiting for an answer,” she explains. “And when you have no papers, you can’t work. So until the end of 2022, I was living on my savings until I was issued with my refugee passport.”

Coming up roses

Status secured, Alessia was able to find a job in the Hard Rock Hotel Marbella, where she worked for several months. While the experience was enjoyable, she began to yearn for more independence and a career doing something she loved.

“I had seen a couple of preserved flower concepts in the US and UK, but nothing here,” she says. “So I decided I wanted to do something around eternal roses – flowers that last forever – and to launch it, appropriately, on Valentine’s Day. Because I have refugee residence rather than being a Spanish citizen, there are a few steps to go through to become self-employed and to get permission for imports and exports. In the end, it took around 12 months, but finally I was able to launch Infinity Roses on my target date.”

Infinity Roses supplies naturally preserved roses and luxury gifts, using fresh flowers from Ecuador, France, the Netherlands, Peru and Spain. The flowers are preserved using an environmentally friendly process to replace their natural sap with a biodegradable solution made from water, glycerin and food coloring.

“If you buy fresh flowers, they generally die within a week, which causes over-consumption and environmental pollution,” says Alessia. “But with Infinity Roses, you don’t need to buy them every week. They last forever, so they are perfect for decorations, celebrations or gifts. They can also be used as a memorial for someone special. As I mentioned, it’s not a concept I’ve seen much, so I’m confident the growth I’ve already seen will continue, especially since I’m planning to introduce new product lines in the coming months.”

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Prospects for growth

Although the business is still in its infancy, Alessia has big plans for Infinity Roses. She has secured supplies that enable her to be more competitively priced, invested in additional publicity materials and enrolled on a flower arranging course at a prestigious school in Madrid for next year. She also participated in November’s Marbella Design and Art event with the support of an architect friend (Studio Lis Melgarejo), getting her product in front of the visiting public by installing some of her decorative roses on the stand and gaining a favorable response.

“My next step is to develop the skills you need for high-level, luxury arrangements like you see in weddings, celebrations and other events,” she says. “That will enable me to broaden my offer and introduce Infinity Roses to a wider audience. I have also added beeswax candles in the shape of Greek sculptures to the decorative product range.

“Further ahead, I would like the company to be known around Europe and have boutiques selling my products in cities such as Madrid, Paris or London. Alongside this, I’m also aiming to open a foundation to support people living in the Amazon jungle. I’d love to be able to give something back to the area where I grew up, so ultimately the idea would be that a proportion of the profit from Infinity Roses would go to providing people in the region with access to education and medicines and raise awareness about environmental protection.”

After all the waiting, the disappointments and the uncertainty, having built a viable business with a promising future must be something of a relief for Alessia.

“I now feel at peace in my current situation,” she says. “I have secured my status, am now working with international clients and have plans to create a foundation to help people who are suffering the hardships I experienced when I was younger.

“With Infinity Roses, I have a project that enables me to make a difference, not just to my life but to the lives of others. I have concrete goals to focus on, but more than that, I also feel like I have the stability, drive and patience it will take to achieve them.”