Joining us in the booth this week is Gbemi Okunlola, founder of Alonuko, a leading luxury bridal brand featured in Vogue, Bridges, Insider and more!

In this episode we discuss:

- Key principles learnt from her parents

- Why she turned down 2 university offers to start her business

- How she started Alonuko at 20 by accident!

- Saving £15,000 & raising £15,000 to launch her first wedding collection

- The steps it took to build her multi-million luxury brand

- Vision for Alonuko and much more

🔗 Connect with Gbemi:

https://www.instagram.com/alonuko_bridal

https://www.instagram.com/gbemiokunlola

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Preview

01:13 - Intro

01:48 - Meet Alonuko founder Gbemi

05:51 - Yesim Ad

07:21 - Growing up, I thought my family was rich!

12:53 - Principles my parents taught me

19:16 - I taught myself sewing at 11!

24:04 - My first time selling clothes

26:59 - Why I turned down 2 university offers

31:15 - Telling my parents I’m not going to uni

33:45 - I started luxury brand Alonuko at 20 by accident!

43:12 - Making wedding dresses made me feel more purposeful

44:25 - Deciding to make my first wedding collection

46:47 - Why the name Alonuko

47:17 - I saved £15,000 from my first business to start Alonuko

48:18 - I raised another £15,000 to launch my first wedding collection

55:53 - Alonuko’s first year of business made this

57:29 - I worked from 7am-12am every weekday for a year to grow my business

01:01:39 - How my business went from £20,000 to £1.3 million

01:09:15 - This is why companies can fail early on!

01:11:42 - What differentiates Alonuko?

01:18:23 - How Alonuko manages high level of expectations as a luxury brand

01:26:07 - Danielle Brooks buying a wedding dress from Alonuko

01:32:49 - How I’ve made an impact to Alonuko

01:37:15 - Biggest entrepreneurship challenges I had to overcome

01:44:17 - My team are everything to me!

01:45:15 - My vision for Alonuko

01:45:49 - Final words

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