Chocoholic
Nigeria: From Baking to Catering Services
Mrs. Hadiza Abogunde owns Dee Bakers Limited, a company she built from the scratch and then diversified into other areas. She is a graduate of Geography from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
She had wished to be a teacher but passion for catering services pushed her to what she is doing today. She spoke to Daily Trust in her office in Kaduna. She explained that what made her start a training school was to make sure the slogan of her business “Developing Talents” is realized.
Mrs. Hadiza Abogunde started her baking business with baking valentine cakes and other pastries for people and she says it couldn’t be much better as she has now grown to explore other areas of catering services.
Her company, Dee Baker, which started with baking before diversified into other aspect of catering services is now a strong brand and that is why she finds it difficult to change even when she diversified.
“When people hear the name, they usually think I’m only into baking but I have expanded more than that. I couldn’t change the name because it was an identity I am known with so I have to stick to it,” she said.
According to her, the capital base was very small when she started 15 years ago.
She said: “I started baking valentine cakes and taking them to ABU, Zaria for sale. The idea came to me to bake and package it; this is because I realized that when you package a product it makes it better. I branded my product by making the box on my own and packaging them and that was what really announced me, at the beginning of the business. Then, I was the driver, baker, marketer and everything.”
On what is needed to set up such a baking business, Hadiza said the first thing is the zeal for the business without which she said people may not be able to go far, “It is not really about having so much money but the passion to succeed in what you are set to do and that was my driving force.”
She said one must learn how to grow in the business, “there is this adage that says when you grow to the top you will stay but when you jump to the top you will fall. People should learn how to grow on the business, this will help them in whatever they are set to do,” she said.
Mrs. Abogunde said she started from the scratch where she was supplying cake to offices. From there she was able to make some money to buy a bus which she was using for supplies. “As I kept growing in the baking business, I also raised money to get the second bus which we were using to shuttle between Kaduna and Abuja,” she said.
For starters who are going into the baking business, she advised that they should get a small oven, the local one. “That was what I was using then, but I’m gradually phasing them out because I’m now able to afford the foreign ones. With about N30, 000, anyone can comfortably start the baking business,” she added.
Creativity matters a lot in this type of baking business as she said it will help anyone going into the business because her creative mindset was what helped her to start making her package.
She said: “I was making my packaging myself because I am very technical, I know how to draw, I was able to fold cartons and design what I want initially before I was able to afford to give the contract out to printers. So, creativity is needed to succeed in the business.”
Within a period of six months, she said anyone in the business can start making remarkable profit if the person is doing a good job and the product is well packaged but if otherwise it is difficult for people to patronise the person and that will affect the profit margin.
On the level of patronage she said, it is very high, adding that in the north, most people are not too adventurous and being a northerner it is easier for her to be contracted.
“I have lots of clients, the patronage is really high because no matter what happens people will have something to celebrate, and there are always events to handle whereby you are baking for them, cook and decorate the venue. Here in the north, it is not too competitive and northerners stick to the name they already know unlike in the south where people have variety to choose from,” Mrs. Abogunde said.
She said the monthly turnover from her conglomerate is about N5 million which covers the baking, event management and the catering school. “As I said, I’m also into events, I do lots of jobs for government, private parties, parade parties, and anniversary,” she added.
The graduate of Geography turned baker said her desire to empower women was what made her to start the catering school to make sure that the slogan of her business “Developing Talents” is realized.
She said: “I had wanted a situation whereby women will be able to learn from here and then stand on their own. I believe once you put your interest in whatever you are doing, you will be able to excel. So, I decided to start up the school so that I can train them in making pastries, yoghurt, juices and all those stuff and they can now go further to empower themselves and others.
“When they come, I asked them what they want to do and encourage them towards their area of interest so that they will be able to help themselves, the thing is, we are ITF certified, we are into training women in order to empower them to stand on their own.”
The training school which is about two years old has graduated over 200 students. The training which is done in batches have one section in the morning and another one in the afternoon, “we have weekend classes and classes for young married women to teach them how to make good dishes.”
Follow up is another thing that Dee Baker said they do not joke with, this is done to help the graduate of the school grow in their businesses.
“I checked on some of our graduates to know how they are doing and it has been so impressive, some of them are even competing with me now, I have one that is majorly into baking cakes now. When the work is too much in my hand I do pass them to some of them that are very good to handle,” she said.
Dee Bakers CEO who has about 60 staff in her pay roll spread across all departments of her business, the baking, catering school and the event management which has the highest number of staff said she has not accessed any loan facility since she started her baking business because she was not interested initially but is now reconsidering that.
She advised people who are considering entering her kind of business to take customer relations seriously. “Customer relations is a very important aspect of any business, you have to be able to keep your customers, the way you talk to them and relate with them matters a lot. I even go ahead and call some of them if I have not heard from them in a long time. That is how to keep them with you.”
Any one going into this business must also have the zeal to serve because the business is about service.
“If you see me in an event I’m handling, the way I serve, you see me serving food, clearing the tables this is because it is very important to me. I tell people who work with me that service is very important, I don’t joke with my customer, I relate very well with them,” she said.
Her major challenge is power outage, “we are into baking and when there is no power supply we consume too much diesel and that in a way affects our business.”
The problem of staff is another challenge in the business. “You know it is easier to manage money than to manage people. In most of our youth, there is this issue of get rich quick syndrome which is common among them, so you employ a staff today and within few weeks they want to be on their own and life is not that way,” she explained.
The problem of prices of material fluctuating is another issue facing the business, “sometimes the qualities of the materials also drop and when this happens it affects those that mix the quality together”.
She advised women to get up and face life and be a help meet that God created them to be, “a woman should rise up and support her husband, they should be ready to work and support the home.” She said the truth about it is the economic situation of the country now, a man should not be left alone to bear the burden but the wife should be supportive.”
She also advised women to be busy for the sake of sanity.
“A busy woman is better than a woman that just sits at home and engage her mind with different thoughts. Women should get engaged no matter how small. I went to NDA to get some chicken and I was impressed with what I saw, a lot of women are into poultry in small form and you see them caring for the birds and at least making a living and adding value to their families,” she said.
