Cupcakeville, your cupcake home

Gorata Chimoli’s confectionary business, Cupcakeville, started as a hobby, when she would bake cupcakes at home and then share them with neighbours. One day she was home alone and baked 12 cupcakes and only ate four of them. “I put the rest in a container and took them to give my neighbours because I was afraid my mother was going to scold me because I had had a tooth surgery at the time”.

When the neighbours saw her coming with a big container, they then offered to buy at P2 each and they took all of them. She then went to buy another cake mix and baked again in the absence of her mother. With the money she made, she continued baking and selling to raise pocket money for herself.

She then followed baking tips on the Internet and started experimenting with various recipes and then learnt how to bake cakes. Chimoli, who is a University of Botswana (UB) graduate, then negotiated to supply the UB Coffee shop with 48 cupcakes per day and one cake. She continued marketing her products through social media and began to have orders from individuals.

Her prices vary according to individual preferences but the custom orders are standard at P7 cupcake with regular frosting and P150 for 20cm cake. Today, Chimoli is a successful entrepreneur in bakery and the Managing Director of Cupcakeville, which she registered in 2015. The business is currently operating from home in Phase 4. On average she can make around P12 000 per week depending on the orders.

She said she gets a lot of orders towards the end of the year as many people will be hosting parties and weddings. To expand her business, Chimolli wants to go to a proper culinary school to improve her baking skills. She recently went for a baking course in Pretoria for one week. She said the market competition is tough-so with more skills she can penetrate the market. “I tried to apply for the Youth Development Fund but they did not help me as they said they did not understand my business concept. So I am using my resources to build my skills to grow the business,” she said.