A Young Mother Shares About Starting Her Own Cake Business And The Challenges That Come With It
BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
BAKING has been a hobby for Ms Ilalina Bisili who then later utilised her skills to start a cake business known as ‘Cravings’.
Cravings is owned by Ms Bisili and her partner, Charles Jnr Ashley who are specialised and well known for designing and baking customized cakes for family and friends.
Since the establishment of ‘Cravings’ in 2020, Bisili and Ashley’s customer base has increased and they received a lot of orders and positive feedback from customers.
When asked how they come up with the name of their business, Ms Bisili said, the most common phrase or feedback their customers used to describe their cake was that it was “crave-worthy”.
“Therefore, we decided to name our business Cravings,’’ she said.
The couples are self-taught cake bakers and decorators.
“At first baking was just a hobby, which we later transformed into starting a business, using our skills and experience over the years,” she explained.
Mrs Bisili, 29 from Santa Ana, Makira Province part Munda in the Western Province said baking was a side hustle for them at that time.
“We were first-time parents as well and that was what motivated us to build a business for the benefit of our child’s future. Our passion for creating customized birthday cakes was also our inspiration for starting this business,’’ she said when asked what motivated them to venture into the cake business.
When asked how they raise funding for the business venture, Ms Bisili said that they started off with money saved from the cake orders they took from family and friends and slowly start buying assets for their business.
“We slowly started buying assets such as oven, mixer, cake tins and items necessary for our business operations,’’ she said.
With the increase in modern technology, Mrs Bisili and Ashley used social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to advertise the birthday cakes that they have made for their customers.
She said that occasionally they boost their posts in order to reach a wider audience which also helps in attracting more customers.
“Another strategy we used is through word of mouth from customers to their friends or families of our tasty and beautiful cakes,’’ she said.
Mrs Bisili who graduated with a bachelor of law at the University of the South Pacific, Emalus Campus Vanuatu in 2017 also give advice to college graduates who want to become entrepreneurs.
“Anyone can become an entrepreneur, it takes commitment, sacrifice, and determination in order to fulfil your desired business idea. Keep an open mind to learn a good skill, turn that business idea into reality and don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone,’’ said Bisili.
“Our kids are our greatest inspiration,’’ she said when asked who inspired her to become an entrepreneur.
“We take pride in knowing that we have turned a hobby into a business in creating quality and reasonably priced cakes for our customers. We also enjoy making our own income that can sustain our little family and sustain business operations,’’ said the mother.
For Bisili and Ashley a challenge often faced is meeting the high demand of orders from their customers and to address this problem, they purchased the needed assets to help their business operations to meet the high demand.
She said they are planning to expand their business by opening up a locally owned cake shop and conducting business in their very own commercial kitchen set-up.
