My name is Yvonne Endo, l am 29 years old almost 30 and l would call myself an entrepreneur  and l also do content creation. My two businesses that l run are Endo2 and  Flora by Endo which l think l will get into in a bit. 

What was the drive for you to jump from having a career in marketing and account management to starting ' Flora By Endo' and 'Endo2'?

So to be completely honest with you, the agency life l had left, the agency life like about  2 years ago and then they called me back to do some consultancy work for them and then they left me. So l think it was just the universe telling me like l need to try and pursue other things luckily with Endo2 that had already started establishing the brand with my sister. So Endo2 is a brand that l run with my sister where we sell a bunch of products from home wear to jewellery to art pieces and apparel featuring my sisters continuous line artwork. This we established in 2015 so luckily when l already left the agency life at least l had that, you know there, and then as for Flora it was just a passion that l had and it came kinda of naturally, Flora is a business that l run where l accurate floral bouquets just from the passion of flowers and l felt as though there was a gap in the market when it comes to different bouquets. I felt like it was a little bit monotonous here and initially it started off as a hobby but now 8 months in its a business that's growing.

How long have they been open for and where do you see them in a couple of years?

So Endo2 started in 2015 but we only started selling products with my sister's art on it about 4 years ago, obviously when we started off we only used to show case my sister's art and just like our style it was almost like a blog and then we realized our audience was a lot younger and we decided to make art a lot more accessible by placing it on various products that l mentioned earlier and yes that's 4 years selling products and 8 years in existence and Flora By Endo, l started last year in May so its only 8 months old  baby but it's growing really well. As for how l see it going for the next  few years, my hope with Endo2 is to make sure we are gaining international recognition, l think right now we are focused on growing locally but we have gotten a lot of, we are already starting to get recognition from retailers outside of Kenya so my hope is to be able to grow outside as well and also hopefully join retail like have our own physical store that is the same as for Floral as well. Right now we are based online and there are actually a lot of people who are already inquiring about oh where can l come see the flower, l would love to come purchase from you and my hope is that l would be able to have a physical store for Flora as well. 

What inspires you to get up everyday, get to work and do all the creative work that goes into your business?

For starters when you are doing something that you love, waking up and doing the creative work that needs to go into growing your business almost becomes, it becomes easy and another thing that really motivates me is seeing the difference that my business is bring to people with Endo2 just getting positive feedback from people when  they wear our item, seeing people like art when l go to like a restaurant or the mall and l see people carrying our bags that, that keeps me going as well, because it's like, it's very, what's the word, encouraging and affirming as well, to see that people love your items and l think that also keeps us motivated to create more, the same with Flora just seeing the difference it makes in peoples lives in terms of people being able to gift flowers to other people and the joy it brings like when l get messages from people saying how happy their recipient was with the flowers or how the difference of flowers has made their space, it definitely keeps me going as well. And obviously wanting to grow my business, both businesses definitely keeps me going.

Are the materials locally sourced?

Yes. With Endo2 we work with local suppliers, we work with local artisans as well especially with the jewelry like this earrings that l am wearing, we have a local artisan who helps us produce them, my sister Patti Endo is the one who designs all the pieces but when it comes to the actual sourcing of the materials and the production we make sure its all done locally. As for Flora as well, l make sure that l work with local florist when l am sourcing the flowers as well as local farms, because l think its also an opportunity for me to be able to show case the beauty that is flowers that are available in Kenya other than just roses because l think that's all we are used to seeing, so yeah it is all local.

In the time they have been in operation what would you consider as the biggest highlight of your success story so far?

I would say for Endo2 recently it was actually last year November we actually were a part of a pop up and we sold out almost all of our stock. That was definitely one of the highlights and another thing we keeping in mind that  we are actually the ones who fund our own business so all the stock we bought, all the space that we, like booking and stuff is all from our personal funds, so seeing that our efforts were being recognized and people actually love our brands, that was really fulfilling and the for Flora l think just being able to fight myself doubt and just starting the business to begin with was definitely one of the successes for me so far and obviously being profitable in a couple of months was also one of the highlights for sure. 

What were your first impressions when you unboxed the Phantom X2 for the first time?

My first impressions were, how sleek the phone is, even the box itself was sleek so l was excited to see what the actual content of the box was, so the phone itself was very sleek, l was also really impressed by the actual accessories that come with the phone, l think nowadays in this age the smartphones don't come with what we used to consider as the basic, so like a charger head for example, an earphones, l was really impressed to have those accessories as well. 

Which feature of the Phantom X2 do you feel is the most important to your workflow and how do you use it?

Camera feature especially how  we it captures photos in the day time is really important for me, especially with my flower business, l always like to capture my flowers in the sunlight so having a camera that works really well in the daylight was important for me. Another thing that's really helpful for me with the Phantom is the fact that is a dual sim, so l don't have to carry two different phones for my two different business line that has been really convenient for me as as well. 

On scale of "It's a bust" "worth a look" or "it's a no brainier" where do you place the TECNO Phantom X2 series?

So l would rate the Phantom X2 Series  as both worth a look and no brainier, l think it's important for everyone to be able to try and experience the phone in the store, see if the camera works for you, test out the different features and after you do that you will be able to know that it's definitely a no brainier. Get the Phantom X Series.