Jungle Leaves

Palm trees in the living room and banana plants in the conservatory – if you can’t travel to the jungle, you can bring the jungle home! “Urban jungle”” is the name of the lifestyle trend on which the business concept of “Jungle Leaves” is based. The start-up runs a specialist nursery with an online shop for rare and unusual plants as well as a garden centre for plants and décor in the urban jungle style. 

What do you think: what are the advantages of a start-up? 
Definitely the self-fulfilment, the experience of realising a large project independently and the broadening of your own horizons and skills – even if you would have gladly done without knowledge on some of the topics. 

What were the main hurdles? 
While setting up the business, many questions arose in various areas, such as official channels, law and taxes, which worried us and made us doubt the feasibility of the start-up idea. Financing – especially our own livelihood during the start-up – was also a major issue. However, this changed for the better when we received the NRW-Gründerstipendium. 

Do you have any tips for you fellow founders?  
You should definitely put your start-up idea on paper and try to explain it to complete outsiders. In doing so, you will come across discrepancies and it helps to flesh out your start-up idea. If you are unclear about your start-up, you should simply pick up the phone and speak directly to the relevant people – for example, public authorities. Most of them are very helpful, and sorting out the unanswered questions helps you to focus on the immediate steps in setting up your business. 

Awards: 

• Gründerstipendium NRW