SATISFYING A SWEET TOOTH WITH CAKES BY LENAMILE

One on one with the brains behind ‘Cakes By Lenamile’ Lenamile Moseki is a talented young professional baker who runs her own cakes business in Gaborone. StartUpMag BW had a chat with the lovely bubbly Moseki on her journey as a young baker in Botswana.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself, a brief background of who you are?

A: My name is Lenamile Losika Moseki, I’m 24 year old from Thamaga, and I was born and raised in Gaborone where I stay with my parents and my siblings. I went to Legae English Medium Primary school, Maikano CJSS, and Gaborone Senior School and went to Gaborone Collage of Culinary Arts for 9 months where I learned everything related to baking.

Q: Take us through your journey on starting a cakes based business?

A: I started my cake business in February 2021 after quitting my job because I didn’t quite enjoy it. I admired the person I was working for but the job wasn’t for me. I didn’t tell my parents that I had decided to quit my job up until February when I officially starting baking. It started off as a cupcake business thus the name ‘Cakes by Lenamile’ to cater for everything that was baked. It started off slow, the first thing did I opened a Facebook page and an Instagram page. I baked for my family because and took pictures to upload on my Instagram and Facebook pages.

Fast forward to July I started doing Bento/ Lunch Box cakes, they started selling and the same time the cupcakes were also being bought. I really enjoyed starting off with cupcakes for I learned a lot especially in terms of the different flavors that I offer being chocolate, vanilla and red-velvet. I had to come up with my own signature flavors to avoid using the easy mix for I wanted everything I based to the original and flour in-cooperated.

My biggest challenge was electricity being cut without warning and I had to refund my customers. When I started I didn’t have a clientele which is normal with any other starting business. But I overcame it when my customers told other people about what I had to offer. Up until now I’m still baking and I love what I do.

Q: Did you always have the love for baking or where you inspired by someone?

A: I’ve always had the love for baking, but everything was influenced by my mother who loved baking bread. There was a specific yellow bread she loved to bake I fell in love with every time she made it. The other person who contributed to my journey as a baker was my brother’s girlfriend who taught me how to bake, despite the fact that she used easy mix, her cupcakes where always amazing. I was surrounded by people who baked, I wanted to come up with my own thing as well like using fresh cream instead of butter cream which I had to change as time goes on because of the hot weather conditions in Botswana. Upon request fresh cream is available, my cupcakes are glittered to make them look cute and all this was self-taught.

Q: What was your biggest achievement ever since starting your business?

A: My biggest achievement since starting this business was receiving a call from Duma FM, for an interview in November 2021. Followed by a newspaper appearance in the Midweek Sun which was published in February 2022.

Q: What future plans do you have for your business?

A: One day I wish to own a bakery or bakeries which specialized in cookies, croissants, and bigger cakes and to start baking lessons to people who love baking like me.

Q: Apart from working the oven, what are your hobbies?

A: I don’t think I have any hobbies because if I’m not working the oven I’m delivering the cakes, or at a friend’s house catching. I do go out, I don’t have a specific sport that I do. Baking is also my job and has turned out to my hobby as well.