My name is Lynette Akello. I am a mother of two, a girl aged 8 and a boy aged 5. I turned 33 two months ago. I am the founder of the Tropical Cake House, a home-based cake bakery business that is located in Ruaraka, Nairobi.
I started this bakery in November 2024 as a home-based business. At the time, I was working as a waitress at a restaurant along River Road in Nairobi.
Initially, I baked cakes as a hobby. I would bake snacks and cookies at home for my kids and friends. Then one of my friends noticed that my home-baked cakes and snacks were good. She started nudging me to turn my baking into a business. Whenever I would bake, she would remark that this was money. “Usilalie masikio!” she would often quip.
However, I was not confident enough. I didn’t have the equipment nor the refined skills to start a fully-fledged bakery business. I would often say that I will think about it, but deep down I knew I wasn’t going to do it. The tide began to sway me towards a bakery business when I started noticing frustrations and growing demand for affordable wedding cakes at our church.
Since I could bake, I began to offer free baking services as my form of contribution to wedding events at the church. I would bake snacks and cookies for pre-wedding and wedding guests. Sometimes I would receive a token of cash in gratitude from couples and sometimes I would not.
A church leader who had become fond of my snacks and cookies challenged me to bake the wedding cake for a couple that was having financial difficulties getting an affordable, quality cake. I didn’t have any special equipment for a professionally baked cake, but I took the challenge nonetheless and I pulled it off. Those who attended the wedding were impressed and my fellow church members started to urge me to turn my skills into a business.
My best friend felt vindicated. She was so convinced that I was sleeping on a money-making talent that she linked me up with one of her acquaintances who operated a professional bakery for bakery lessons and mentorship. I learned that this is why you must have a small circle of true friends and acquaintances who will not be jealous or afraid to let you in on how to make money.
There was no turning back. I started off with Sh40,000 which I had saved from my job. I used this amount to hire all the necessary equipment such as cake stands and serving baskets for my early jobs. At first, I would use a jiko to bake cakes, which is very time consuming and you can only use round tins to shape cakes. If a customer wanted any other shape, I would insist that the round cakes were the best then use different sufuria sizes to enhance variety.
I was desperate for the right cake tins, knives, spatulas, nozzles, piping bags and such. But because I didn’t have adequate capital, I learned to be creative. Although I had a mentor in the business, I didn’t want to be the person who always knocked on her door borrowing equipment. I started designing my own piping bags from paper bags and tetra pak aseptic bags and fortunately, my method worked. At the end of December 2024, I left my waitressing job to fully concentrate on bakery.
So far, my business has been a progressive venture. I have been reinvesting the profit I make back into the business by acquiring additional equipment. So far, I have managed to acquire a small electric oven which has enabled me to bake cakes faster, tools for modeling fondants, electric beaters and mixers. My capital now stands at around Sh200,000 in savings and business assets.
Although my cake bakery business is currently a home-based business, I am hoping to open a shop by the end of this year. I had applied for a Sh300,000 loan from a microfinance that I was saving with in February this year. However, the terms, interest rate, and the limit they were willing to give me were not affordable. I also needed security and a list of guarantors which I did not have at the time. In May, I withdrew my savings and opened an account with NCBA where I am now saving to build a statement for financing. My target is to open a shop, and acquire bigger equipment including a larger oven and stand mixers.
My biggest challenges when I started my business were mainly financials. I faced difficulties with access to credit and cash flow management. This was exacerbated by mixing business money with personal savings. In my early business days, I found myself using all the cash I earned from the business on personal expenses. I had not drawn a line on what amount I’d be paying myself and how I would maintain the operating capital. This suctioned capital from the business to a point where I had to either change tact or shut down. My finances began to streamline when I opened separate business and personal money accounts. I now have two accounts at NCBA; one for the business and one for my savings.
I think of my business as the most efficient cake bakery house in Nairobi. I have proven severally that I can get you a cake in less than two hours, freshly baked and delivered to you in the Nairobi CBD. All my cakes are made on order and this level of freshness is the reputation I want to build for my business. I love cakes and for me this is more than just a business. I want to offer an experience, a memory that will remain for a long time from the taste of that sponge or butter cake.
I have also learned to accommodate different customers with my pricing. This was not easy at first as my initial target customers were young wedding couples who could not afford costly cakes. When I started to scale outside my church, I quickly realized that I was undercutting myself with low prices which would sometimes leave me with losses. Today, my business specializes in all types of cakes, pastries and snacks ranging from birthday cakes and corporate events snacks to wedding cakes.
I have two casual employees, one who helps with production and another who has started marketing our cakes on social media. I am a very hands-on person and I mostly do the baking. Although my business is still young, I am hoping that I can be able to provide worthy employment to them down the road. For now, my casual employees and I are able to pay rent and put food on our tables and that is a fete that I am proud of.
I have also been taking occasional lessons on sugar crafts from more established bakeries within Nairobi to improve on my skills and creativity. I have learned that this is a very trendy business that requires you to be on top of your creative game to stay relevant. Some of our popular cakes include the Chocolate brownie, the Orange chiffon cake, and the Red velvet cake.
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In the few months I have been in business, I have learned that it’s not possible to have a perfect start. It’s better to constantly improve everything a little bit at a time. Keep learning and keep searching especially when you are in business. If you have a skill, convert it into an income stream. You can do this right from your home. I started from home and soon, I will transition to an open, physical business.
