Lazarus Sekhula (39) knows his plants and the people working with him know their plants. They have to if they want to be of value to the gardeners of Polokwane and remain the number one nursery in Limpopo.

Lazarus started at Sterkloop Home and Garden nursery in 1997 after working in nurseries in Centurion for 14 years. Today he is a Supervisor at Sterkloop Home and Garden. He is married and the father of three children aged 16, 9 and 5 years.

He believes strongly in training and says because he did so many courses and attend any training he can, he is adding value to the nursery and has become a draw card for clients who need information to start or maintain their gardens or need to deal with problems in their gardens. He knows how to deal with people as he also did sales training. He gives workshops for gardeners and just before we did this interview with him, he did an interactive demonstration with a group of pre-schoolers.

He likes to communicate with people and enjoys it if he puts forward ideas to better the business and it is accepted. He supervises 25 people in the nursery.

Lazarus says the service at Sterkloop is good. "We pull our fingers when there are clients that need attention in the nursery". Sterkloop is well-known for the knowledge of all its sales assistants. Lazarus says they should be well informed because people can see in your body language if you are unsure of your facts. To him, the rate of unhappy customers must be 0%.

The shortage of water that is increasingly a factor, discourages people from gardening and force them to turn to paving larger areas of their properties. "But we can show them how to create a drought resistant garden, if they come to us for advice".

"I need to be proud of my job" Lazarus says. "I like to be on the floor with the customer because then I know when something is wrong and I can negotiate to satisfy the client". He does not like to get angry because "then I don't think so good"

Lazarus is a keen promoter of the greening of the environment. Apart from the advantages of creating oxygen, he says people should also use trees as windbreakers which will ensure that less homes lose their roofs in wind storms, something that occurs quite regularly in Limpopo.

Lazarus invites gardeners to visit Sterkloop Home and Garden to discuss their needs and requirements and to be introduced to the wide range of traditional and new varieties of plants that are available.

Watch Lazarus' video
Watch Lazarus give a demonstration to children of Babbelbekkie Kleuterskool in Polokwane.