By Nanjinia  Wamuswa

Nairobi, Kenya: Agnes Wangechi really wanted to a bake a cake when she was in Standard Six. She came up with a plan to achieve this milestone; she lied to her father that she had been assigned to bake a cake as a home science practical lesson and her lie achieved results.

That was in 1983 at when she was a student at St Anne’s Primary School, Jogoo Road, Nairobi. She knew if she told her dad that she just wanted to bake a cake, her dream would not have taken-off but her father was generous when it came to education.

“It was not a gamble. I knew my father would pay any amount of money where education was concerned,” she explains.
She prepared a great cake that family members ate at home. No one remembered it was for a school assignment, much to her relief. Her journey into cake business had just begun.

She baked her second cake to mark the end of primary school and a third one for  her 18th birthday. All the cakes were a success.

When she finished her secondary education at Huruma Girls, Wangechi knew what career she wanted to pursue.
She joined Jacarandah Hotel in Westlands where she learned cake making for a year.

She got employed by Nairobi Dam Bakery and worked for a year before quitting to join Kenya Polytechnic to pursue a diploma in Catering and Accommodation Technology for three years.

She finished in 1999.

At Kenya Polytechnic, Wangechi baked and sold cakes to fellow students and lecturers, making good money in the process. “I baked a wedding cake for a fellow student, during their wedding,” she recalls.

She also got a lecturer’s job with a private college in Ruiru, as caterer. She started catering services, and because of her previous good work got scores of referrals from friends to individual and corporate celebration events.

In 2003, Wangechi got a job as a pastry chef with Dormans, but left after two years to venture into private business. In 2009 she landed contract to prepare pastries for Central Bank of Kenya staff. The management advised her to first register her company to get the contract.

Wangechi registered her company, Aggy’s Pastries but somehow missed the contract. In 2010, she opened a shop in Eastlands and invested Sh200,000, a loan she took from a bank.

However, the shop did not last since most of her work was orders from outside. “I realised the shop was of no use, closed it down and continued with outside catering,” she says.

Her business grew in leaps and bounds. Today, Aggy’s Pastries prepares some of the best cakes in the market such as black forest, white forest, karani special, vanilla, carrot and orange cakes, sugarless, fruit cakes, banana cake and lemon twist, for individuals, anniversaries, bridal showers, birthdays, weddings and corporate events as well as all kinds of celebrations.

In pricing, Wangechi considers all direct and indirect costs incurred. For instance a cake weighing 1kg goes for Sh1,500 and 2.5kg Sh4,000.

She says sugarless cakes target clients with health concerns. Wangechi still maintains customers she started with and says, “Besides being loyal, I personally engage with my clients to get exactly what they want.”

Although her business has grown and fetches her hundreds of thousands of shillings in a month, she says it hasn’t been a bed of roses. Competition for cake market is tough and she’s forced to do things above what others are doing.

To be a cut above the rest, Wangechi goes for creativity. She has come up with various unique designs and decorations that her clients love.

In the recent past, Wangechi says, business has been tough especially after the introduction of the VAT law.

Some of the high-end clients she has netted include AC Johnson, Tropical Farm Management, Co-operative Bank and Safaricom. She was hired to prepare cakes during the launch of Economic Project Transformational, Facility (EPTF), which gave her great visibility.

She markets her products through social media, networking, and at events. Born in 1974, Wangechi was inspired by program Mke Nyumbani aired by a local television channel.

She mentors young people in pastry but her biggest dream shall become reality when her brand name shall becomes a by-word for quality.

Business
Premium Ruto's food security hopes facing storm amid fake fertiliser scam
Business
Premium Nairobi business community plans protest as over 700 containers held at port
Real Estate
Premium Affordable housing: Will State's data-backed action now pay off?
Real Estate
Premium Building to the skies, but at what cost?