For most ceremonies, glamour is not usually complete without the organisers making available beautifully designed cakes to add colour to the occasion. It has become more common to see cakes that come in different shapes, flavours, designs and colours taking centre stage at many ceremonies.Such huge and beautifully decorated cakes are seen at weddings, birthdays and corporate events, while small and nutritious cakes are readily available for family consumption and as gifts.Interestingly, enterprising minds that have tapped into the opportunities in the cake making are meeting peoples needs in this regard, and at the same time earning fortunes from it.The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Diva Cakes and Confections, Mrs. Genia Okafor, is a source of motivation to those who may want to become authorities in cake business.Despite the fact that she has a Masters degree in Education Administration and Planning, she is currently not working with her certificate. Okafor , who is also a certified autism teacher from a foreign university, has found fulfillment in this pastime of significant interest to her.According to her, this special interest is the business, which has turned her into a cake provider, a trainer and an employer of labour.She says, We supply cakes and confectioneries; we train people who are aspiring to be cake decorators and bakers; and we bake different types of cakes.While encouraging an intending entrepreneur on the business, she gives an insight into how she started.According to her, right from when she was young, she had always loved to bake cakes for her immediate family member and friends. Little did she know that she would soon become a success story in this regard.Because of the high value she placed on education, she says, she proceeded to get her first degree and a Masters degree, with additional qualifications abroad.With her education and exposure, Okafor has been able to introduce innovative ideas into the business, which she says, helps her to deliver her services more professionally.Initially, I started baking free of charge. When I started doing it for weddings, people loved it. Then I began to receive increasing requests for cakes. This was the point at which I started charging fees to bake. I later went for more training and attended exhibitions before it became a big business, she says.According to her, the most important thing for an entrepreneur to thrive and stay successful in the business is the passion for it. It is something you can start from your home, but what is important is that you have to have the interest; you have to love doing it. If you dont love it, you may somehow get frustrated and give up because it is not so easy to stay on in the business, especially during unpleasant periods, she says.She, however, stresses that a cake provider must have a good customer relations strategy. The reason is that baking cakes goes beyond selling it; rather, it largely entails ensuring customer satisfaction and delivery of quality products.On how she copes with this, she says, I always try to find a way to make my own different. We use quality products to bake our cakes, and we are very customer-conscious. We make sure that our customers get the best. We try to keep our quality and standard high and the same. These have helped us a lot.Okafor notes that, just like other business cake making also has its own challenges.The major challenges, according to her, include getting the right hands to work with, raw materials and poor infrastructure.She says, Sometimes we import our raw materials but their delivery are delayed because of Customs procedures. Again, you have to consistently keep training your staff to perform well.Nevertheless, an encouraging thing about the business, according to her, is that an intending entrepreneur can start with little capital, probably from personal savings, after which he or she needs to acquire more capital for expansion.Without an office, she says, an aspiring cake baking entrepreneur can start the business from his or her home, especially at the beginning.Mrs. Idowu Adebayo is the Chief Executive of Partis Bakers, an outfit that supplies different cake types to suit different ceremonies. According to her, she learnt how to bake when she was still a student. She says she used to help her friend, who was very good at baking.She says, I started by helping my friend to do most of her pastries. Later, I started reading books on baking, but I gained practical experience by assisting my friend that helped me to perfect my skill.According to her, there are usually innovations in baking. Adebayo, who says she had always had the mindset to be an entrepreneur from childhood, naturally saw the cake business as a venture she could delve into. She also points out that an individual needs to go for training as it helps to provide the needed knowledge to produce and serve high quality cakes to customers.The cake expert stresses the need for an entrepreneur in this field to be committed and focused. Besides, she says such a person has to set targets on how to grow his or her business.
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