Bulawayo’s youthful entrepreneur spreads her wings

AWARD-WINNING Bulawayo young businesswoman, Ms Kathy Mwanza, says her Cake Fairy enterprise is focused on growing business beyond the city in response to growing market interest from different parts of the country.

Ms Mwanza (37) started her culinary journey in 2016 when she began baking for her family at home.
She then realised her talent for baking and left her job as an insurance agent to start her cake business.
Known as “Chef Kay”, Ms Mwanza has become a trailblazing entrepreneur in Bulawayo’s business sector, successfully transforming her small bakery into a thriving restaurant business.

Over the years, she has expanded her business to include savoury foods and opened the Fairy Café in Bulawayo in March this year after establishing the same brand in Harare last year.

“I opened my first branch for ingredients in Harare in 2019 under the brand Cake Designs and then we opened a second one in 2020. In 2022 in July, we opened our first restaurant, which is Fairy Café at Joina City, which gave birth to our Bulawayo branch at Imbali Mall, which opened on March 21, 2023,” said Ms Mwanza.

Ms Kathy Mwanza of Cake Fairy

“What motivated me to open cafés is that I had been invited by the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) to bid for a kiosk. After winning the tender, they said the kiosk should not sell cakes only but other fast-foods.

“When we did that last year at ZITF we found out that people liked our food then we decided to open the restaurants.”

Ms Mwanza has strategically built her reputation in the confectionery industry by launching several cake ingredient supply shops under the Cake Fairy banner.

She recently opened another cake ingredients shop in Gweru. Her understanding of the monetary value in her food business has expanded her enterprise into baking bread, producing 2 000 to 3 000 loaves a day, from having started out with just 60 loaves a day.

Over the years, she has baked 137 plus wedding cakes, building her legacy in the industry. Ms Mwanza scooped an accolade (Young Entrepreneur of the Year) from the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Matabeleland Annual Business Awards that were held in the city last weekend.
Commenting on the award, Ms Mwanza said it was possible due to her hard-working team, which is always on the ground to make sure that everything is done accordingly.

“I am honoured and humbled by the recognition. We owe this to teamwork, hard work, and determination,” she said.

“We are focusing on growing and perfecting our present business lines. The expansion will come in two years from now.”

Ms Mwanza has won about 15 awards since she established her business. — chronicle