When you talk about showcasing the accessibility of beautiful blooms from around the world in Africa, and the richness and depth of variety of flowers on the African continent itself, then one name hardly goes unmentioned. This is Yes! exclusive flowers, a flower-sourcing and export business based in Cape Town, South Africa.
It is owned and operated by Sylvia and Elfi Bösinger, the mother-daughter duo enthusiastic about Africa's flower industry. Established in 2016, Yes! exclusive flowers, is an enterprise that obtains and supplies high-quality flowers across Africa and beyond. The company also exports South African-grown flowers to customers worldwide.
A One-Time Arrangement That Turned Into a Fully Fledged Flower Business
The German-born duo’s journey into the flower-sourcing business is a fascinating one. It began when the sister company, Yes! exclusive weddings & events hosted the first African Floral Experience Master Class in Cape Town in an event hosted by renowned floral designer Karen Tran.
At the time, high-end event flowers, such as commercial cut garden roses and parrot tulips, were not available in South Africa at all; and this is when Sylvia and Elfi started their own imports for this event. Quite unexpectedly, it generated quite a buzz and overwhelming response and feedback from the participants. This set the stage for the Bösingers to start their flower-sourcing business.
Even before establishing Yes! exclusive flowers, Sylvia and Elfi had, as earlier mentioned previously, been running Yes! exclusive weddings & events, an outfit focused on creating unforgettable event memories. With offices in Germany, the UAE, and South Africa, it still specializes in destination weddings and events.
In fact, Yes! exclusive weddings & events has previously organized quite some iconic, luxury activities since 2008. Such include the Coterie Retreat, Munaluchi’s annual three-day conference for wedding and event professionals which was held in Johannesburg in 2017. And from the events that the company has organized, right from the polar circle to the most southern hemisphere, the mother-daughter duo ensures that every one of their functions is planned to perfection.
That aside, Sylvia and Elfi's venture into the floral business took off when Yes! exclusive weddings & events sourced flowers for the previously mentioned master class in Cape Town in 2015. Having difficulties locally sourcing the required varieties, quality, and quantities of flowers, the two sought the most exquisite blooms that suited Karen Tran’s flower wish list and imported them for the event. And later on, to floral designers and florists in the country.
It was, as they say, a great challenge and a learning curve as the floral trade was, then, not the main focus, but to deliver the best quality flowers for that most spectacular event — the floral experience masterclass by a floral icon in the event industry — that Cape Town has thus far experienced.
Yes! exclusive flowers:
“It was a success! The event went down remarkably well and we have continued to show our passion and love for the most elegant flowers. What was initially thought to be done for a single event, quickly turned into a successful business, after florists and planners from different parts of Africa requested to also have access to our quality flowers.”
Thus, what essentially started as a one-time arrangement for flower delivery, soon became a business. And having imported varieties including the world-famous David Austin garden and scented garden roses, among many others, directly from the growers, Yes! exclusive flowers soon became an exclusive agent for these heavenly-scented roses in South Africa. Noteworthy, is that most of its imported flowers are produced by specialist growers with the highest levels of social and environmental standards adhered to.
Reshaping the Flower Industry in South Africa… and the Continent at Large
Passionate about transforming the flower industry in South Africa with a fresh element, Sylvia and Elfi directly import their flowers from carefully selected growers in countries like Kenya (including Tambuzi), South American countries, Holland, Asian countries, and others globally.
In due course, Yes! exclusive flowers was the first business of its kind to establish a webshop for the flower trade and florists in South Africa. In its cause to be a leading flower supplier, the flower-sourcing company's way of trading, in many ways, revolutionized the flower industry in Southern Africa. This move further enhanced its presence and reputation as a premier flower supplier in the African continent.
In addition, it also became one of the premier flower scouts for special flower varieties and has since 2018 seen its flowers exported largely to other African countries, among them, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mauritius, and Congo. Its first direct export to Zambia was in 2018 and to Zimbabwe in 2019. Still, it supplies to trading businesses, wholesalers, and event florists in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
What is more, at the end of 2020 — right in the middle of COVID-19 — Yes! exclusive flowers added another milestone for itself by opening a wholesale and retail flower market in Cape Town, cementing its physical presence in South Africa, and moving away from a purely online-based operating business, but still with the same principle in mind: flowers sourced fresh from the farms.
This made it one of Africa‘s largest stockists of dried and preserved flowers to date, alongside its leading role as a fresh flower importer into South Africa and across the continent. In fact, Yes! exclusive flowers is, currently, one of the best places to get your hands on dried flowers. Even more, the duo's flower market in Cape Town is set out as a creative space and inspirational source for florists, interior designers, and the public.
Elfi Bösinger:
"I compare our flower market to a paint shop for customers to find their floral paint in the colors and textures of flowers sourced internationally to enable them to literally paint their own floral designs on to tables, vases, and ceilings with the most colorful and creative material at hand."
Yes! exclusive flowers, also, proudly supports South African-grown flowers locally and does direct exports of the region’s cut flowers, such as peonies, proteas, tulips, and dahlias, and plants, such as cymbidiums and phalaenopsis, into the global market; fresh from the growers. The company even collaborates with a farm that exclusively grows 100% bio-farmed event flowers such as breaded irises, cornflower, and sweat peas. This is in addition to sourcing flowers straight from any other country of origin and directly shipping them anywhere in the world. For the clients, this reduces cargo costs and enhances the quality of the floral products.
In the years that followed, the importance of Yes! exclusive flowers in the floral industry across the region, and continentally continued to manifest itself. The company continued to gain significant acknowledgment as one of Africa's best sources of high-quality luxury flowers for prestigious events, such as the Destination Wedding Planner Congress in Zimbabwe recently hosted in April 2024 in Victoria Falls.
Yes! Exclusive Flowers: Years Later, Even Many More Achievements!
In the later years, Yes! exclusive flowers has seen enhanced recognition for more firsts including becoming the sole agent for Agra-Wool's 100% biodegradable floral foam product in 2020, as well as Pagter transport boxes, which are ideal for transporting delicate flowers, such as dahlias, ranunculus, and anemones grown in South Africa in an upright standing position. These boxes are also perfect for helping smaller farms grow and deliver more fragile flowers thus extending their market by using these special transport box concepts.
The company also offers training and flower experiences worldwide online as well as on-site, alongside other well-known international florists. Plus, its flower market in Cape Town is not only servicing the flower industry but is also open to the public, thus continuously introducing the general public to unique varieties of fresh as well as dried flower ranges.
With a new integrated webshop solution for the trade in the pipeline for 2025, that is showing the international growers live availability — another first in Southern Africa — the mother-daughter duo continues to guarantee that the African continent’s flower industry — and their sourcing — continue to grow beyond any previously held notions and expectations.
Photos by Yes! exclusive flowers.
