LONDON: Three years into Lebanon’s financial meltdown, a Lebanese entrepreneur is offering a creative alternative to high-priced bouquets of flowers by creating and selling versions made out of money bills.
Tamara Hariri, 30, said that her business idea is an attempt to offer an alternative to expensive flowers in the cash-strapped country.
“I thought flowers do not work as much anymore due to their high prices,” Hariri told Reuters. “So I wanted to do something similar to flowers.”
She added: “Of course, there is no substitute for flowers, but maybe it is even better than offering a flower bouquet — people can give the money and help the person, be it on their birthday or any other occasion.”
Hariri said she has made about 50 bouquets since launching her business last month, usually around two a day.
A small bouquet takes her team between 30 minutes and an hour to complete, with more complicated offerings needing more time.
Bouquets can be made out of Lebanese pounds or US dollar bills. However, those made with the latter are treated with more caution.
Hariri asks her clients to send their own US dollar bills as she fears counterfeits with their value increasing compared with the Lebanese pound.
In Lebanon, a bouquet of flowers can cost between 1.5 and 2 million Lebanese pounds ($50-$65), making the industry one of the hardest hit by the economic crisis.
In 2020, more than 30 percent of cultivated flowers in the country were dumped amid a slump in demand.
“I believe helping each other is very important in Lebanon, maybe that’s where the idea comes from, to help each other, start having gifts, money that can help people, maybe students, university students and employees,” she said.
Hariri said that prices depend on the size of the bouquet and amount of cash used, but they usually make between $4 and $10 in profit.
She is confident the idea will spread around Lebanon, saying that “it not only generates profit for us (the flower industry) but also helps people receiving the gift.”
Lebanon has been rocked by an unprecedented economic crisis since 2019, with the currency plunging more than 90 percent and about 80 percent of the population now living below the poverty line.
