Sophia Jerome, 23-year-old Chief Executive Officer of Amanda Cakes and Confectionaries, in this interview, speaks on her motivation for success
•Jerome
You are a graduate of history and international relations. What started you on your present career path?
I lost my mum when I was about five. My father did not remarry until I was about 13. All those years, it was just my dad. He taught me to cook and took care of me himself. My father is the best cook I know; he cooks better than most females I hang around or have lived with. He inspired me because I always wondered how a man could cook so well and he bakes too (cakes and confectionaries). In fact he can cook many dishes from many ethnic groups in the country. So I promised myself that I would learn to be a great cook and that was how I started.
My father is an engineer. He is in paid employment. I was so curious that whenever he wasn’t around, I would be experimenting in the kitchen. Every time he got back from work, he would get upset that I had wasted all the food because most of what I cooked was not edible.
With time, I got better. I guess that my love for eating good food also helped. I am a foodie. I decided to learn it properly. I went to a cake school. I did part of my training at one of the top cake schools in Lagos. I also did some part of it at Ilorin where I had my university education. After I finished school, I went for further training.
At what point did you decide this would be your career?
I made my decision in my final year in school. Prior to that, I had thought about what my career path would be. I knew I didn’t want paid employment and I had also dabbled into making bead which I sold alongside shoes. In fact, I started business at 13 years, selling beads. After attending several career seminars, I decided to stick with something I was passionate about – cakes and confectionaries.
Prior to this time, I was baking cakes for friends in school and even cooking for group associations but I never got paid. I just did it for the fun of it. At present, I have run this business for three years. So far the journey has been challenging. My business covers two aspects: cakes and confectionaries, and Amanda kitchen and catering.
For now I am concentrating on the cakes and confectionaries and it is doing well. I get a few calls though for catering jobs because my connections on social media where I do my marketing know I do that too. I hope to expand that in the future and eventually own a restaurant.
Was your father supportive of your decision?
He didn’t take it so well, just as some of my close relatives and friends. He had plans for me; he wanted me to spend my service year in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt.
Even till this moment, they believe I should get a paid job. I have worked for people, in a day-care but I don’t think that is what I want to do. I see myself in a few years being able to employ others. My father was ready to assist me to get work with an international organisation but I wasn’t ready for that.
It was a difficult time because I didn’t have the financial and emotional support I needed. However, he is beginning to change his mind and is more encouraging. He has come here to see what I am doing. If you know what you want and you persist, you will definitely get the support you need. It might not be all the support you want at the moment but it is a gradual process.
My close friends too, of recent, have begun to support me emotionally. Initially, they were of the opinion that catering was not for an educated person. They felt it was a career for full time house wives and semi-literate women.
How would you describe your journey as an entrepreneur?
It has been fun but stressful, my major challenge being finance. I am using up all my savings to grow the business. Every single amount of money I get, I invest in the business. It is not easy buying the instruments for baking and cooking. At a point, I had to cut off my hair so I would spend less money maintaining it. I felt I was wasting money on my hair when I had a business to run. My greatest joy though is that I get to do what I really love. Right now, I am trying to raise funds to rent an office space by the time service year ends because I work from my house.
Another challenge is that my customers tend to underestimate my abilities and my person, perhaps because of my youth and petite physique. For example, they would rather pay N5000 for a cake that costs N10, 000 and still demand the same quality. It is hard because it affects my profits but I just go along so that I can have samples to show future clients of what I have done.
If a new client comes and you are unable to show them sample pictures of what you have done before, they will doubt your ability. If you are not careful though, it can become a habit. I had a boss who once told me she got used to accepting pittance from clients even when she had made a name for herself. She had to consciously work on herself to reject poorly priced jobs.
Sometimes, I get disrespected. There was a lady who ordered a doll cake for her one year old. This cake ordinarily costs nothing less than N10, 000 but I took N4500 because I was eager to do it. She asked for an orange coloured icing. Although I found it odd because pink icing is common for one-year-olds but I did it without question.
When I went to deliver the cake at her store at Shoprite, Ilorin, to my embarrassment, the lady rejected it. She insisted she had ordered a pink cake. There was a crowd at the place; so I felt humiliated especially when she resorted to insults. I had to apologise and plead with her because she wasn’t ready to admit that the mistake came from her. In the end I took back the cake, removed the orange fondant and did a pink one instead. It took more money from me. It was a very painful experience.
More recently, a friend asked me to bake a cake. She wasn’t ready to pay the price I asked for and she didn’t even want to bargain. She kept saying the money was enough for her to buy a bag and that she would prefer to buy a bag for the person as a gift. I felt insulted and accepted her decision. But she kept talking until I realised that she was trying to guilt trip me into accepting what she wanted to pay. However I refused to budge.
So what lesson did you take away from those experiences?
I learned to write down customer’s orders to avoid such problems. I also learnt to use my initiative to make suggestions as regards colour and the like. I learned to be more accommodating. A business woman has to learn to take all manner of things or else you are not ready for business. On a good day, I would not have tolerated those insults.
What would you advise youths considering self-employment?
Most of the trainings I underwent in baking and catering, I did them as an undergraduate. If I had waited till I completed my studies, I wouldn’t be thinking of running my own company now. Even though I have done so many trainings, I still need to keep improving. This is where most youths get it wrong. If you want to be self-employed in any skill, get the training before you finish school. After school, it is not too late. It is much better during school because you are still financially dependent.
When you are in school, you have pocket money to fall back on. But once you are done with school, you are on your own. People expect you to support yourself. So it becomes more difficult. This is why those who start business after school get discouraged easily. I really had time to learn from my mistakes while practicing my craft in school. The exception is if you come from a rich family and most of us are from average homes.
When I was in the National Youth Service Corps camp, we had seminars on entrepreneurial skills. I didn’t know how to explain to them that this was not something that you start after school, if you really want to be independent. This is because you need time to study the market. I intend to open a cake and confectionary shop at Ibadan soon, for example. Lagos is more competitive and expensive. There are so many big names there. Ibadan has a lot more opportunities so I can find my way there. I can also get a good location there at an affordable price. All these decisions come with proper planning and market research.
