By Mzondiwa Dube
THE advent of social media platforms has proved to be a boon to Bulawayo-born Estery Nyakudya, whose cake-making business is slowly taking the baking industry by storm.
Nyakudya, whose passion for cake-making was by coincidence, is among thousands of young and upcoming entrepreneurs, but her company, Lady Cupcake, has also not been spared by coronavirus ripple effects.
While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a negative effect on most industrial operations, this has, however, not hindered Nyakudya as she seeks to be a force to reckon within the confectionary industry.
“Our biggest challenge is on importation of raw materials as the country’s borders are currently closed due to coronavirus.
“However, one has to come up with innovative ways of meeting customer needs.
“All this can now be done through various social media platforms,” said Nyakudya in a recent interview with Standard Style.
She, however, added that the Covid-19 pandemic had emboldened her entrepreneurial skills by forcing the two-year-old company to come up with various innovative ways to keep the business operational.
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“Our post Covid-19 focus is to open branches in Lupane and Binga as demand for our products in these two areas is rather phenomenal,” she said.
The company also offers confectionery courses, which are currently being done through numerous social media platforms as part of coronavirus preventive measures.
Nyakudya, however, bemoaned gender disparity in the confectionary industry became the majority of men were reluctant to venture into the cake-making business as it was deemed to be a female profession.
“The majority of students in my class are ladies and the few men who have bothered to attend were of the opinion that the profession was not traditionally meant for them,” said Nyakudya.
Besides selling her products to individuals, she has also made inroads into tertiary institutions, churches and some government departments.
Some of the products she makes include wedding and birthday cakes, corporate function cakes as well as ingredients for cake-making.
