Elfi Bösinger: Blooming in the Floral Industry

Elfi (right) with mother Sylvia (left)

If you want a model of how to work with family, this mother and daughter duo can give you the blueprint. Event Planners, Flower wholesalers or Traders these ladies have got you!

Elfi and Sylvia Bösinger are not stopping for anything. Elfi broke it down for us in a write up about Yes! Exclusive Flowers based in South Africa and how they are changing the landscape in the African floral industry.

So what inspired you to start your company? We started off as an events management company. At the end of 2015, we hosted the highly acclaimed international floral designer Karen Tran, for a floral masterclass and luxury event planner networking conference in Cape Town. We were one of the first companies on the African continent to do this.

For this event, we imported our own flowers as we couldn't find the quality and varieties required for that type of luxury event; from then, we were constantly asked where to get gorgeous flowers from. Initially we just passed on the contacts, but the import process is quite complicated because you need an import license for every single flower you are bringing into the country.

So we offered our assistance to other colleagues and florists in importing flowers and from there it never stopped. Yes! Exclusive Flowers was born! We saw a niche in the market for fresh, fine quality flowers and garden roses that were produced at a commercial scale.

We don't live near an international airport and didn't want to invest in the overhead costs for cold-room storage and the usual logistics required in opening a traditional flower trade centre. So we decided to open an online business with a just in time delivery approach.

Now, tell us a little about your team (or if its just you!) We are a proud family business, as I am working together with my mum. We both take care of orders and I manage the marketing side of things and my mum deals with everything related to purchasing. We are a ladies power house and wouldn't be complete without Rozanne van Eeden, who is supporting us in sales and client communications and Susan Booyen, who is overseeing all accounting matters. We couldn't do it without them and are proud to have people that have our back and are passionate about our business and vision.

What are you proud of? What are your biggest achievements so far? There are many elements to our success and the one wouldn't go without the other. Firstly, we were at the right place at the right time. We saw a niche that nobody had filled. Secondly, building trust and changing purchase habits with a clientele that is quite resistant to change. In an industry where e-commerce is not common practice, we introduced fresh from the farm online-shopping for florists and traders.

In our business, quality can be best achieved by ensuring limited interruptions in the cold chain and creating the shortest delivery routes directly to the customer. In the past, clients would have to buy through traders or buy on the shop floor to touch, see and smell the flowers. Today, florists and event planners or wholesalers have the freedom to purchase directly from us and order their flowers fresh from farms from around the world and delivered to their closest airport. We made them buy flowers online, purely because we have always delivered upon our promises in quality, scent, color and freshness.

Today we have secured sole agency for the trade of different varieties for many farms across the world. We work with Tambuzi in Kenya which is a growing magnificent fair trade garden and David Austin Roses which was the first farm with which we secured sole agency in 2016. Since 2018 we are now also proud exporters into other African countries such as Ghana, Mauritius, Nigeria who value our service and quality flowers. Last year, we were the first company selling fresh flowers by air to Zambia directly from our partner farms.

In a context where fresh flowers are usually transported by bus on a daily basis from one country to another, receiving fresh flowers by air is a milestone that takes a forward thinking mind on site to take on the challenges and overcome the administrative barriers. We thank those partners who approach us and also push for the demand of quality fresh flowers in their countries.

What do you enjoy the most about what you do? We work with creative people that make visions come true, that create lifetime memories for families and corporate clients. I always say, I see myself as someone who is providing paint to an artist - in my case, I provide quality flowers to a florist to ignite their imagination. The most rewarding part of our job is seeing the results and creations of our floral designers across Africa. We feel extremely happy when our 'babies' have been delivered on time, with everything on schedule and get sent pictures of the incredible work that people create for their clients.

We keep receiving feedback that we have revolutionized flower trade in Africa. Why is this important? Because we hear people say that we have brought them back the joy of working with flowers since we specialize in trading new varieties, unusual shapes, extra-long stems, different colours and roses with scents.

Some florists tell us they almost gave up their passion before they found us, as they would only get the same old stuff at relatively low quality. Quality doesn't always have to be expensive, but it has to pay off - rather less of something special than too much of what everyone has seen over and over again. We love what we do, we are passionate about our flower babies and valued customers and I think this is how people feel the difference - we are not just doing a job, we live for what we do.

"Rather less of something special than too much of what everyone has seen over and over again"

There are a number of players in the floral industry. Why should anyone use your service or product? What makes you different? We pride ourselves to not only offering high quality, fresh products but also a service that stands out in the industry. Coming from an event planning and floral design background we have a totally different understanding of our clients - we are not pure traders, we are colleagues and understand the concerns and logistical issues involved with event and wedding planning. We empathize with our clients and for us, providing flowers to anyone is like sourcing for our own events.

We have made a name of ourselves as so-called "flower scouts", by sourcing the most suitable colours and variety at the best available price for our clients worldwide. Just this week, we received a brand new phalaenopsis (orchid) variety - we are the first company to get our hands on a variety that nobody in the world has seen thus far and it's being sent to South Africa. Apart from being specialized in fine flowers, we also offer the best quality of standard varieties, which gives us the opportunity to work with customers across different budgets.

Where to from here ? Where do you want to take Yes! Exclusive Flowers? We want to become Africa's reliable point of contact for fresh fine flowers. And we want to bring Africa on the international flower map. Coming from an industry where 90% of the flowers are exported from Africa to other continents, we do receive big smiles at times when we explain where we are trading and a lot of companies underestimate the potential that we see in this region. This is a big vision for a small team, but this is what drives us: we want to become Africa's finest flower trader.

On the other hand, we want to focus more on offering floral training and experiences with our flowers to bring like-minded people together. For example, from April 7-11 2019, we are offering a rose safari at Tambuzi in Kenya including a 2 day workshop with Italian master florist Ercole Moroni. Participants will learn everything about the fair trade farm, the faces and people behind the brand and learn valuable techniques from a master florist that they can apply in their work. We love to build bridges, we want people from all around the world get to know the Africa that we love, the people that we appreciate and the flowers that make our hearts skip a beat. And yes, we still have a few spaces available and we would love to show you our world of flowers - no experience necessary.

What’s the one thing that you know now, that if you had the chance to go back and do it again, you would do differently? Personally, I would invest more time in education. I loved my time at university studying International Business Management but I did not get educated in IT or e-commerce enough at the time. Today, I regret that I was never more interested or forced to have that as a compulsory part of my syllabus to possibly jump sooner onto the online business bandwagon and to understand the dynamics much better. Imagine, I don't even have an Amazon or Netflix account to date (the latter being because I hardly watch movies anymore since having two businesses - but that's another story!) yet own one of the leading online floral shops in Africa.

What has been your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it? Being a two-woman show in the beginning, we did everything ourselves from contract negotiations with farms and carriers to marketing, customer care to accounting. Don't try to master a skill set that is not your strength when you can hire it in.

At some point it's just too much and you lose focus and you spend more time on the things that you least like and this way things become inefficient. That was the point when we started hiring staff that would bring in their passion for a process in the business that we just couldn't cover anymore ourselves.

As an entrepreneur yourself and business owner, what do you think are the biggest challenges that African entrepreneurs face?

Originally from Germany but having lived in South Africa for 20 years we believe that it doesn't matter where you are from. We live in one global world and through our highly digitized network, opportunities and challenges lie now closer to each other than ever before. Nobody should feel they are challenged because they are from Africa, everyone should feel proud of their heritage and follow their vision regardless. Never forget where you are coming from, it will ground you and put your life into perspective but never imagine that you can't reach your goals because of your roots. Don't blame Africa - embrace it and go find your place in it. Be true to yourself and make Africa proud.

What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other entrepreneurs looking to start a business?

1. Passion takes you places.

2. Don't be afraid to be a game changer.

3. Accept a challenge. Be who you are and fight for your dreams - no matter where you are from.

4. Be prepared for sleepless nights (it's 1:03 am as I am writing this on a Monday night!)

5. Be prepared for setbacks and competition and be prepared for people not believing in your dreams - but do it anyway.

Instagram & Facebook: @yesexclusiveflowers

Website: Yes! Exclusive Flowers