05 Aug 2018

 The  ‘beauty with brains’ adage is usually used to describe women who are not only beautiful but are also intelligent and such description fits Miss Public Service 2014, Ms Segolame Habana.

After amassing a large social media following on the beauty pageant stage, Ms Habana took advantage to convert the followers to clients of her culinary business that specialises in cake art.

 Her passion for art can be traced back to her senior school days and the passion, she said in an interview, helped her succeed in cake and dessert making despite never having gone to any culinary school.

She revealed that most of what she knows about cakes and dessert was learnt from social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube tutorials. 

“I follow all the steps by watching videos on mixing ingredients, baking and decorating the cake until it becomes a finished product. The passion I have for baking and my patience have played a big role in taking me to where I am,’’ she added.

Ms Habana said her passion for baking was fired up in 2015 and she baked her first small cake and invited her friends and close family members to taste it and the cake-queen said the feedback she got was overwhelming.

“The feedback motivated me to start my business and just from one small cake, Sego’s Classic Desserts was born, though at first I had little self-confidence but the support I got from my friends and family motivated me to start the business out of something I regarded as just a hobby,” she said. She said her family and friends were her first customers as they requested more of her cakes for ceremonies and celebrations.

At the moment, her business bakes specialised cakes for a variety of occasions such as birthdays and corporate events and can cost as much as P500. 

She said that although the culinary arts business is seasonal, on a busy month during peak season she can make more than P15 000.

She urged young people to use social media platforms positively to better their lives rather than just for fun. 

The 35-year old entrepreneur highlighted that she used social-media platforms such as Facebook to market her cakes and attract customers from as far as Gantsi, Francistown and even across the border in South Africa.  

She said it took about two days to finish a cake. She said networking was important for business growth.

The self-proclaiming queen of culinary arts highlighted that the secret for every business to succeed was to always deliver on time and put a smile on a client’s face by going an extra-mile to do an outstanding work.

Having to juggle a permanent job, family and business, Ms Habana said she has learnt to divide her time accordingly to accommodate all the three. 

“Sometimes parenthood forces me to start business late at around 6pm until early morning around 2am,” she said.

Ms Habana said for someone to excel  they should make sure they learnt new things in their craft every day. ENDS