Young Woman Beats Poverty Through Baking
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday September 18, 2017 18:00
The Lobatse-born Ogone Pearl Chimidza said she decided to use the basic skills of baking she acquired from the Home Economics (HE) subject during her Junior Certificate (JC) studies.
As an added advantage, she pursued a diploma in sales and marketing at the UB in 2014.
In an interview with Business Monitor, Chimidza said that her business is an easy way to make money during this time when jobs are scarce.
She said she receives more than 25 customers on a daily basis due to her unique homemade recipes, which are normally the cream of her business.
The ambitious businesswoman said that she provides her services to individuals, companies and occasions such as weddings and funerals. Due to financial constraints, she said her business is still operating at home and sometimes she uses door-to-door marketing methods to rake in more profit.
The young entrepreneur said she chose to create her own business in order to generate income, unlike other graduates who are unemployed and waiting for the government to create jobs for them.
She said that most of the graduates are roaming the streets and some of them go to an extent of being engaged in illegal activities in order to fend for themselves.
Chimidza said that her business started last year around October.
“I have always had the passion for baking. Last year, I decided to bake for a friend’s party and it was after the party that I received compliments and many orders. I then decided to make baking my source of generating income,” she said.
The self-driven individual said that her business is flexible and located everywhere and as long as she still has her hands and feet nothing can stop her.
She indicated that she is currently located in Mahalapye, but she delivers as far as Francistown and Lobatse.
The baker said that business is doing relatively well and it has significantly improved over the past months when compared to the time she started.
Chimidza said that due to the good reception she is getting, she is now aiming high by planning to extend her business into a bakery or maybe a restaurant because the sky is the limit.
She further said that some of the few challenges she is currently facing include stiff competition from big retailers such as Pick and Pay, Spar and Choppies together with some of the local bakeries.