Former sales agent turned baker shares her passion for cakes and women empowerment

When her daughter one day referred to her as ‘auntie’, Rina realised it was time to switch careers so that she could spend more time with her family.

Her journey started in 2011 and has seen her rise to become one of the top bakers in Nairobi. Rina derives joy from baking cakes. Her passion for baking has seen her endure the bad days, which consist of cancelled orders and power rationing, to make her mark in the business world.

She shares her business journey with KTN’s Julie Wambui.

How much did it cost to open a full-fledged bakery?

When I ventured into full-fledged bakery I needed to inject almost about two million.

What are some of the challenges you have faced since getting into the baking industry?

There are very many things that you’d find, you see on magazines, on cakes how they look like and you’d want to give that to your client but we don’t have most of that here.

You are very passionate about baking and empowerment. What else do you do apart from baking?

I’ve been teaching at Langata Women’s Maximum Prison. I put it in my heart, I need to move these people from this level to another level.

What has the highlight of your journey been?

We emerged the winner for the novelty baker of the year which we are very proud of.

What does it take to succeed in this business?

I do all my cakes from my heart. I sometimes actually bend backwards. I make sure I deliver what a client wants.

What advice would you give aspiring bakers?

You need to know exactly what you want to do because there are normal cakes that you can find in the supermarket and then there’s the kind of cakes we do which are the novelty cakes