“It wasn’t an MBA, but a plant that taught me the real meaning of risk management.”

Building Plant in a Box over the past year has been a journey filled with passion, purpose, and unexpected lessons. One of the biggest has been around risk management  - not in theory, but in real, everyday practice.

Here are 3 lessons that shifted my perspective - as a founder:

🌱 1. You can’t control every risk - but you can prepare for it. A sudden pest attack or a change in weather can undo weeks of nurturing. In business too, risks rarely arrive announced. What matters is building resilience early - with buffers, systems, and contingency plans - so a single event doesn’t derail the whole venture.

🌱 2. Growth needs discipline. In plants, giving endless space or water doesn’t mean faster growth - it often weakens the roots. In business, unchecked expansion without governance is similar. The right boundaries, controls, and oversight don’t restrict growth; they make it sustainable.

🌱 3. Neglect shows up faster than care. Skip watering a plant for a few days and you’ll see the difference. In business, ignoring small governance gaps or risk signals also shows up quickly - sometimes when it’s already too late. Attentiveness is the simplest form of risk management.

Looking back, these lessons have made me see risk management not as a checklist, but as a way of nurturing - balancing care with foresight, freedom with discipline.

And the truth is - whether in plants or in businesses - you never eliminate risk, you only learn how to manage it better. 🌿