Sweet Cakes Sweet Tidings
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday September 17, 2018 18:00
After searching for jobs for almost six years without any luck, a Limkokwing University of Creative Technology graduate of software engineering in multi media, Tlhakanelo decided to venture into the business of cake-making after a friend offered to teach her.
“Since I graduated I have been applying for different jobs in different industries and haven’t been successful. My breakthrough came last year while I was looking for my son’s birthday cake. I met our family friend who then offered to teach me to make them,” she said.
According to Tlhakanelo, a good samaritan Dumelang Kelebeng, took her through the journey of baking a cake using her own ingredients. After several attempts of successfully baking cakes on her own, she then decided to turn her craft into business. Her first order followed a few days after posting the picture of the creation on Facebook.
“I then decided to turn baking cakes into a business and started advertising on Facebook. My first order was to make a bridal shower cake. I was nervous wondering if the cake was going to come out the way my client wanted and it did,” she said.
After that, Tlhakanelo got different orders of making cakes for birthdays, bridal and baby showers, and wedding cakes.
However, just like any other business, she has encountered some teething problems. She noted that operating at home has its own advantages and disadvantages. The determined Tlhakanelo said she has been saving some of her profits and use others to buy more equipment and ingredients as she has intentions of growing it.
“I have plans to expand my operations and open a shop one day thus creating employment in turn. The response in the market has been surprisingly overwhelming as most of my clients are outside Gaborone, mostly people from my home village from Mahalapye,” she said.
To stay relevant in the market, Tlhakanelo said she decided to focus on creating unique cakes to the customer’s satisfaction rather than have expensive prices. The strategy has been working for her, as most of her clients have been referrals from people she has worked with before.
“My strategy is simply to work hard to gain my share of the market. I am an artistic person and enjoy creating, hence the reason why my focus is on creating quality cakes,” she said, adding that her burning ambition right now is “to brush my skills and enrol in cake decorating course.”