In Vision Wellness Magazine officially launched

STARTING from a simple conversation between two friends, In Vision Wellness Magazine was only a dream… Until now. Five editions later, it has become Namibia’s only magazine solely catering to the health and wellness sector.

The founders of the magazine, Hileni Phillips and Deidre Kwenani, last Thursday officially launched the publication at NICE restaurant in Windhoek while celebrating a year of publishing. A host of guests, including members of the media, models and personalities who have been featured in the magazine as well as sponsors and content contributors, were present to celebrate the milestone.

Narrating an experience in a health facility that led her to the idea of a wellness magazine, Phillips told guests she had to do “something that would add value to the lives of people in Namibia” by telling Namibian stories. “Every Friday, Deidre and I had meetings… I mentioned to her, you know what, why don’t we start a wellness magazine, we need money and we could make money through that,” she recalled. While it was just an idea for her, Phillips narrated how her partner Kwenani took the idea and ran with it immediately, putting in steps to get the magazine started as soon as possible.

When it comes to putting the magazine together, Kwenani and Phillips are co-editors, with Phillips also handling layout. They are fortunate enough to receive valuable contributions from health professionals who write about anything from fitness and sexual and mental health, amongst many other issues. They also have regular features on issues related to health safety, finance, nutrition, exercise, etc. So far, only five issues of the magazine have been released over a one-year period, something the editors attribute to their focus on producing content that’s well-researched and relevant to the Namibian market.

At the launch, Kwenani spoke about what it takes to gather the often technical information from various health sectors, bring it all together and publish it in a comprehensible manner that is understandable by both the expert and the man on the street.

“We really wanted to aid the accessing of health and wellness information to the public. We wanted to create a product that can add value to the people’s lifestyles, and therefore we came up with a health and wellness magazine,” Phillips said. She did however also admit that coming up with a list of contributors was no easy task, and neither was financing for the day-to-day operations.

Speaking at the launch, motivational speaker and author Otto Kapiya applauded the entrepreneurs for pursuing their dreams relentlessly and never giving up despite the challenges they faced. His keynote address focused on what he termed ‘The Power of Starting’.

“I don’t think a lot of the stories in the magazine would have been told if these two hadn’t started,” he told guests, and urged everyone in attendance to take the bold step of setting their dreams in motion instead of allowing procrastination to delay their success.

In Vision Wellness Magazine is available at various health centres as well as Super Spar at Maerua Mall, Grove Mall and Hochland Park.

– rukee@namibin.com.na; @rukeeveni on Twitter