Side job that was baked from mum’s kitchen
Fraciah Wambui Masitsa is an accounts manager with a local public relations firm.
At close of business each day, she shifts her focus to her other passion; whipping up cakes and decorating them at her Bella Creations Bakery.
Fraciah is a people person and when time came for her to choose a career, PR was an almost automatic choice.
She said it is a fun industry and on a normal day, she is usually pitching stories to the media for her clients and ensuring that they have a strong online presence.
She loved baking since she was 10 years old, a skill she learnt from her mum. She took advantage of the holidays and family events to bake using an improvised oven made up of a jiko and sand.
She was lucky to get a job in PR soon after she graduated from Kampala International University four years ago.
During her free time, she continued to bake for her family comprising three siblings. When people visited, she would give away her cakes for free.
In 2011, a friend asked her if she could buy one of her cakes.
“This was when I started seeing it as viable business option,” she recalled.
Soon after, Bella Creations was born in her mother’s kitchen. Fraciah had to join evening classes to polish her baking skills.
Expansion
At the beginning of 2012, her mother’s kitchen could no longer sustain the demand.
By chance, her younger sister had just graduated from campus and also loved cooking, so Bella Creations was her training ground.
Using her savings, Fraciah started a bakery in Ongata Rongai where her sister manages it during the day.
Despite running a side job, Fraciah still goes out of her way not to let it hamper her performance.
Like any other business, the first months were difficult and she had to dig into her pockets for four months to get money for rent.
Now her business has grown and has four staff.