Meet 22 year old Nip Wijewickrema. A Chifley local on a delightful mission.
She’s mad for Abell’s Kopi Tiam, has a wardrobe of onesies that she shares with her very special sister and… she also happens to be in the running for the Women’s Weekly ‘Women of The Future’ Award.
Why am I shining the limelight on Nip?
She’s co-founder and enthusiastic promoter of Canberra’s socially sustainable florist – GG’s Flowers – employing people with special needs.
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Tell me about GG’s Flowers
When my sister Gayana was about 14, my step-mum Geetha decided she didn’t want Gayana’s future employment prospects (or life in general) to be hampered just because she has special needs. So Geetha took matters into her own hands and completed a floristry course in the hopes that she would gain a few customers and be able to deliver flowers with Gayana.
In 2013 I set up a Facebook page, mainly just for Valentine’s Day but through friends and family inundating the site with orders… GG’s Flowers was born.
The business started in our bathroom and now we’ve graduated all the way to the garden shed. We would one day love to open a shop, but for now, we’re running with it, and a year and a half on we’ve employed three people with special needs, plus Gayana.
What role does Gayana play in the business?
She’s 16 and a student at Lyneham High School, so evenings and weekends she does the deliveries with me. Gayana will knock on the door and give the customer a big hug – that’s her thing, her trademark. She’ll also ask to pat your dog.
So, since GG’s Flowers bloomed into existence, what’s life been like for yourself and Gayana?
It’s been crazy! I sometimes joke that I need a PA. In June, I actually left my full time communications job in order to keep up with the mad momentum of the business. I wanted to be doing deliveries with Gayana and now I can, full time, along with all the social media work I’m involved in.
Gayana used to spend a lot of time watching TV or just sitting around home, but now she’s out on the weekends and out on an evening delivering, and the most important thing, is she is earning her own money. We’re teaching her that if she works she’ll earn. Just because she has a disability, it won’t stop her in her tracks.
Everyone dreams…so what’s the future for GG’s Flowers?
To eventually become national. Maybe even international.
I would love for GG’s to break into the corporate flower market and for us to teach other businesses how to better engage in social procurement. Purchasing flowers for office space, Christmas functions, awards nights… they’re the exact same flowers as anywhere else but our flowers are socially sustainable and are changing lives.
Lastly – Gayana’s favourite flower and most loved Canberra spot?
The rainbow rose! They’re pretty out of this world if you’ve never seen one before. Gayana loves colourful things.
And more than rainbow roses, she loves Yoghurtland in Belconnen! We go there regularly and eat yoghurt with the money she has earned. Getting out is a really good social thing for her given she’s part of such a social business. It teaches her how to communicate and how to make friends.
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GG’s Flowers is open for business six days a week. Choose to have your flowery bunches delivered by Nip and Gayana or collect your arrangements from the family business shed.
The Wijewickrema family are on a mission to change lives one flower at a time.
