Emily Nikanor, founder of Lavender Tales Bridals, celebrated 10 years in business. Born in a small town in northern Namibia called Oshikuku, Nikanor identifies Lavender Tales as a bridal boutique and consultancy operating in Windhoek, known for its personal service, tranquil setting and wide selection of designer gowns.
At the event, Nikanor shared her experience with those in attendance. ‘’Making every woman’s dream come true by providing the wedding dress of their choice was my main goal through my business. I saw a gap when I got married 11 years ago, and wanted to afford every bride to have a pleasurable experience in finding her dream dress. Growing and starting a business comes from small steps.
It is not an easy journey, but all worth it when you experience scaling in your business,” she observed.
Nikanor started off her bridal shop in Swakopmund in a two-bedroom flat, where she made one bedroom for designing and the living room for consultations. After moving back to Windhoek in 2014, she continued her business from home, and eventually found space in the city centre for a formal shop in 2016. By then, she had dressed over 300 brides.
To date, she has served over 1 000 wedding dresses and catered to brides from Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Finland, Sweden, Germany and the USA. Lavender Tales currently has a team of six employees, including Emily as the founder.
Despite challenges experienced during Covid-19, she encourages business owners to embrace setbacks, as they catapult one into greater experiences.
“Lavender Tales’ biggest achievement so far is that we’re still standing, despite many challenges such as Covid-19, which made us close shop for almost two months,” she added. Emily said she has grown as a businesswoman, to a point where she is willing to mentor other entrepreneurs. One of the biggest lessons Emily has learned is that ‘’if you’re in business, try to have as much control over your products so that you can determine the delivery dates, quality, output and just the general process. If most of your production is under your control, then you can be able to have your business in control,’’ she noted.
In attendance were previous customers such as business owner of Premium Wear, Nomvula Mapolombo-Mbwaluh.
“Emily and her team delivered more than what I expected. Her team was professional, on time and made my wedding a dream come true. I still look in awe at my wedding pictures and the ease of not worrying about the most important thing, which was the dress for me,” she said.
Youth presidential advisor Daisry Mathias highlighted the realities around women’s economic empowerment, and commended Lavender Tales Bridal for marking a decade in business.
“Personified, Namibia is a 21-year-old black female residing in a rural area. So, to achieve growth that is truly inclusive, we have to unshackle whatever is limiting the 21-year-old black woman from maximising her potential. Emily, you embody the Namibian dream of job and generational wealth-creation, economic growth through value-addition and economic empowerment by owning and managing a productive economic asset. This is the transformation we want to see,” she stated.
Apart from bridal gowns, Lavender Tales Bridals also offers marriage counselling, facilitated by Nikanor herself, who is a certified marriage counsellor. She finds her real fulfilment through couples’ therapy.