Meet 3 Inspiring Local Entrepreneurs In SA’s Home & Decor Space

This month we are celebrating the beautiful and inspiring women of South Africa. Here are three local entrepreneurs who have turned their passion into businesses and made a name for themselves in the home and decor industry!

MEET THE FEMALE FLOWER FARMER PUTTING CAPE BLOOMS ON THE MAP

When entrepreneur Adene Nieuwoudt started Adene’s Farm Flowers just six years ago, she never dreamed that it would blossom into the incredible venture it is today. The farm, based in Breede River Valley region of the Western Cape, has grown to encompass six hectares of flowers with over 200 different varieties including 50 000 dahlias, 4000 hydrangeas, thousands of lisianthus and other flowering plants.

Before starting her flower business, Nieuwoudt had no experience in farming or growing flowers. She began her career as a fashion buyer in Cape Town before transitioning into wedding photography, which she did for around ten years, capturing special moments at over 400 weddings. It was during this time Nieuwoudt formed relationships with numerous florists and discovered that many of the flower varieties used at weddings and events were not grown commercially in South Africa but were imported at high costs.

With a passion for South Africa and its people, this sparked her inspiration. She was already living on a farm with her husband, whose family has owned the Platvlei Fruit Farm since 1934. “I started by planting just a small patch of flowers in my backyard. When they were mature, I styled and photographed them and sold them on Facebook. They sold out in 10 minutes, I quickly realised there was a market for scarce flowers that you see on Pinterest but could not get locally very easily,” she remembers.

Adene says it’s not always easy being a woman in the male-dominated field of farming, but she has learned how to stand out and has earned the respect of her industry with her successful business model. She has an intuitively feminine approach to work, “What I love about being my own boss is that I can follow my own vision and that I can dream up my own business ideas and there’s really no one holding me back. I can just follow through into what I feel naturally,” she says.

Her approach to farming is also a nurturing one as she focuses on eco-friendly growing methods, environmentally responsible practices, and balancing farm with family. Adene’s Farm Flowers continues to grow with thousands of visitors flocking to her farm to walk among the flowers each year. Her vision is to double the business over the next five years, partnering with a Holland-based peony company to grow a further 6 hectares of peonies to export to Holland and all over the world.

She was recently invited to collaborate with Mr Price Home to create a custom range of homeware in honour of Women’s Month.

“The inspiration behind this range was definitely my favourite flower, the dahlia,” Adene says, “We used the dahlias and other flowers from our farm to create a beautiful, romantic and feminine flat lay, which we used on the products.”

The products in her range include items like a duvet cover, cushions, tablecloths, diffusers, candles – all adorned with flower-themed images she has photographed herself, combining her photographic skills with her love of flowers and nature.

You can find Adene Nieuwoudt’s homeware range at Mr Price Home stores nationwide from 9 August 2022. Follow @adeneflowers to find out more about her flower farming journey.

ONE WOMAN TURNED A PASSION FOR INDOOR PLANTS INTO A THRIVING BUSINESS

Once you invite plants into your life and home, it’s easy for them to take over. At least that is the experience of Nkhensani Rikhotso, a Soweto-born entrepreneur specialising in indoor plants, and advising people how to turn their spaces into lush, leafy indoor sanctuaries.

Rikhotso’s passion for plants is relatively new. In 2020, in the depths of lockdown, she began delving into self-healing and spirituality and decided to bring plants into her Joburg home to create a space of safety, serenity and calmness.

It started with just one small aloe, which she promptly killed by overwatering. A mistake she would learn from with her next plant, and the next. Before she knew it her home was exploding with 200 varieties of plants, from ferns to succulents, palms and Ficus. With limited interaction with family and friends during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rikhotso’s day-to-day life began to centre around nurturing the living, breathing additions to her home and she found great healing, inspiration, and joy in the process.

As she learned to care for each plant in its own unique way, she began sharing her lessons with others. As a multi-faceted creative with a background in Digital Design and marketing, Rikhotso took to making ‘plant content’ on social media and soon gathered a loyal and interested following for her plant care and styling tips. Eventually this led to her starting an indoor plant consultancy, and plant shop, Her Merakai, sharing her skills with businesses and individuals.

Around the same time her budding love of plants manifested, Rikhotso’s own healing journey evolved, and she qualified as a reiki healer, offering in-person and distance reiki healing, which she feels is a natural complement to her plant business. “I believe my deepest purpose in this life is to help others find their own healing, whether that’s through reiki healing, or creating a safe and mindful space with plants,” says Rikhotso.

Rikhotso was recently approached by Mr Price Home to take part in their Women’s Month Colab Collection. This collection is intended to shine a light on the many hard-working, passionate, and talented women creators who contribute so much to South Africa’s economy and vibrant creative industry. The brand recognised Rikhotso as a multi-faceted and highly driven yet intuitive businesswoman and tasked her with creating a range of designs inspired by her unique business and life.

She says her designs are rooted in the strength, beauty, and resilience of all the women who have impacted her life and represent a blend between nature and the female form.

“I feel it is deeply grounded in everything that is my passion, love, my soul and my work. The thing that inspired this range was the women that I have in my life and the women that raised me,” she says.

You can find Nkhensani Rikhotso’s homeware range at Mr Price Home stores nationwide from 9 August 2022. Follow @her.merakai to learn more plant care & styling tips with Nkhensani Rikhotso.

MULTIMEDIA VISUAL ARTIST KENEILWE MOKOENA DESIGNS ‘WHIMSICAL’ HOMEWARE RANGE

Known for her eclectic, dreamy and somewhat apocalyptic aesthetic, Joburg visual artist, curator and art director Keneilwe Mokoena’s recent work has taken on a wholesome and whimsical style for a recent creative project –a homeware collection.

Mokoena is well-respected figure in the Gauteng art scene. A Fine Art graduate and recipient of the Reinhold Cassirer Award for 2015, she has also been in residence at the Bag Factory Artist Studio in Fordsburg. She has curated numerous exhibitions and facilitated art workshops for various organisations including Pretoria Art Museum, the American Embassy, and The Coloured Cube.

Most recently Mokoena has been exploring multimedia works, using Youtube and Instagram to share eclectic and surreal digital collage pieces that make reference to global socio-political issues as well as her own internal struggles.

“My creative process is radically intuitive,” says Mokoena, “Exactly like my life is. I take it day by day and minute by minute.”

It’s typical for viewers to get lost in her unique perspective. Her work is usually characterised by otherworldly landscapes interspersed with elements inspired by nature and she is known for her ethereal self-portraits. Mokoena was approached by Mr Price Home to contribute to their Women’s Month Colab Collection alongside two other local inspiring female creators. The brand recognised Mokoena’s unique talent and creativity and wanted to shine a spotlight on her.

“The main idea behind my range is really celebrating the feminine side of nature, so lots of flowers, lots of plants etc. If I were to describe my range in one word it would be whimsical,” Mokoena explains.

For her homeware collection, Mokoena took more inspiration from her self-portrait series, intermingling images representing the strength and beauty of women into colourful and eclectic floral arrangements. Her designs feature on a colourful range of accessories from bed linens to wall art, stationary, cushions and candles.

“It was wonderful to work with Keneilwe Mokoena on this colab,” says Kerry Strauss of Mr Price Home “She draws inspiration from the world around her, the people in it, and her self-growth. Whimsy meets fantasy to create an ‘out of this world’ range with a grungy edge.”

You can find Keneilwe Mokoena’s homeware range at Mr Price Home stores nationwide from 9 August 2022. Follow @ke_neil_we to follow her journey as a visual artist.