WCW: Reaping big from help; Makerere Journalism Student earns greatly from cake baking.

Just from helping out a neighbour and friend to accomplish her business orders, Kiiza Lucy Edith paid herself with the knowledge that she confidently survives on financially to-date.

Lucy, 24, and a Fourth-year student of Journalism and Communication at Makerere University took the pronouncement of the presence of COVID-19 to learn how to bake cakes.

Lucy’s neighbour, Mercy Kyalisiima of Cake Addiction, was never too closed to allowing her offer a hand in fulfilling her cake orders, an opportunity that Lucy used for a two month’s time to acquire a skill and eventually started her own business.

“After schools were closed in March 2020, I used the next two months of April and May to learn how to bake cakes and gain confidence. In June 2020, I officially kicked off baking cakes for business,” Lucy narrates.

With fervour to be financially independent but doing something that she had a strong passion for, Lucy believes that God answered her partaking in the lent period of 2020 and gave her a sense of direction.

Her start

“I needed financial independence since the lockdown had come and I was not working. I needed upkeep to survive and wouldn’t keep calling my mother for money, airtime and upkeep as a lady. I looked at this as a clear line of attack and it pushed me to make it a business so I could save my mother the burden of upkeep time in time out,” Lucy says.

Like most successful business people who say that they started with nothing which undoubtedly seems to be a gimmick in the public eye, Lucy reaffirms the same, ‘I started with nothing’.

She says it was the help of Kyalisiima that gave her confidence to carry on. Kyalisiima allowed her to do every chores Lucy had and made sure she learnt from every order she made.

When she gathered her confidence and started baking, the first order Lucy received equally brought in the first capital. She used the money to buy all the baking ingredients though she still used Kyalisiima’s equipment till the end of last year.

“Whichever order I worked on, I would use that money to buy something one at a time until a time reached when I had most of the equipment,” recounts Lucy, the CEO of Lucy’s Cake Fairy.

Baking cakes

With the training and mentorship of Kyalisiima, Lucy bakes all kinds of cakes notably of all cake flavours from vanilla, red velvet, black forest, strawberry and many more for all kinds of functions like birthday parties and weddings. She also does doughnuts, cupcakes, cake slices and pizzas.

Whenever she is at school, Lucy never gives room to excuses and complaints but bakes exactly from her place of stay in the hostels. However, she bakes from home whenever a big order knocks at her business door.

Lucy bakes cakes that go for prices; UGX 70,000 for normal flavours and UGX 100,000 for unique flavours like red velvet and customized cakes.

On her way to financial independence, Lucy had to drop a range of fantasies to grab the consequence. With school on going, she works on her orders throughout the night and attends classes during the day. Sometimes she does deliveries whenever time is favourable.

“I always plan ahead. When a client makes an order, I make sure to do it in an organised way so that it doesn’t affect my classes and at the same time make some money,” Lucy narrates.

As a new person in the business, she has genuinely been supported by friends and other customers who are mostly a child of recommendations by clients who taste her cakes.

Hitting the target

Walking in the cake business with a fore aim to attain a ‘pecuniary independence’ status, Lucy pronounces her achievements with a broad smile and sheer confidence.

“I have achieved financial independence and this business has given me more confidence. I have my own equipment, brand and a lot more. I have had nearly a hundred orders since I started and I am grateful to God,” says Lucy.

Two months ago, she lost her mother but even after this unfortunate incident, Lucy is not only hurt but also grateful that she has achieved her goal which was to relieve her mother of constant monetary provision.

Besides, Lucy says that there is lack of trust in new bakers which blackens the business in a way. Clients reach an extent of intimidating bakers, undermining them thinking that they don’t have much to offer since they are new in the market.

Despite all these setbacks, Lucy envisions to continue being independent, developing and setting a brighter future for herself.

Advice

With one year and more of cake baking expertise and of course in the working world, Lucy says that there is nothing as important as hardworking in the present generation.

She encourages youths to work harder, especially the womenfolk, for financial independence is a key to growth and exploration of different ventures in life.

No matter what challenges, for instance losses, discouragements one might face in their business journey, Lucy says that how one comes out strong is what makes a difference.

“It’s this consistency that has helped me to grow and also, my clients. I urge you not to wait for a degree to come or apply for a job but push and work hard. Working also stops one from joining bad company,” Lucy advised.

With such determination, Lucy now owns a business and continues to eye on bigger achievements henceforth. Not even receiving the letters of the alphabet stopped her from chasing her heart’s desire and now it clearly pays off.

This is possible to everyone so long as a right mind is birthed and the proper tools opted for, to create disparity in one’s life.