Itunu Oyeniran is a graduate of Estate Management. She jettisoned her professional calling to face the production of wedding cakes. She believes youths should develop their entrepreneurial talents. She spoke with SUNDAY AIKULOLA.

Can you please introduce yourself and what you do?
I am the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Cakes by Itunu. I studied Estate Management at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. I’m a creative and very detailed lady. I often refer to myself as a sugar artist because I express my natural artistic gifts through cakes.

What informed your foray into baking?
My motivation started with a desire to satisfy my curiosity on how cake was made.This was what led to my first training, which was sponsored by my parents during an Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike in my second year in the university. Being a natural talent in art, learning came easy and fast. By observing cake pictures, i knew what to do to achieve the designs before me

Around this time, I got an opportunity to get a loan of N10,000 to be paid in two installments. I received the first installment of N5,000 and I got my first set of equipment; a rolling pin, a baking pan, a spatula, a scrapper, a few piping noozle and one more thing i cannot remember. With this, I started by collecting money for ingredients to bake for a few friends in my third year, I proceeded from baking to decoration, everything was manual. I mixed with my hands, using rolling pin and baked with stove and pot.

After a while, I became more confident in my craft and I started to charge better and no longer for ingredients only.

I discovered that baking and especially, decoration was natural to me. I enjoyed working on every cake and for every cake I had a deep level of satisfaction. Then, I did my first wedding cake. I was excited as that was what I wanted to do for a living.

By the time I graduated in 2017, I’ve saved over N100,000. With this, I came to Lagos to have an upgrade class for about a month. I left Lagos for Abuja for my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. In Abuja. I continued to bake. I enrolled for an entrepreneurship programme organised by Project Headstart. At the end of the event, I applied for a grant and got N50,000, which I used to purchase more tools for the business. After NYSC, I got a scholarship to an attachment with a leading bakery in Lagos for three months. I was retained to work with the company as its Chief Baker.

I resigned in 2019 and I started my business officially. The business was registered in 2020 and I’m a graduate of the Transforming Nigerian Youth Programme organised by Entreprise Development Centre (EDC).

What is the niche you carved that differentiates your cakes from others?
I have an eye on perfection and I pay utmost attention to details.I am very proficient in the cake baking process and strive to meet the expectations of my clients.

My natural artistic talents influence my cakes. This is reflected in the designs.

I also focus on the ability to develop contemporary innovative and attractive designs.This appeals more to the youthful group. I am able to meet their yearnings and desires, as we are all within the same age classification.

What are the challenges you face in business?
Top on the list is price fluctuation. This is a major challenge because with prices going up consistently in Nigeria, consumer spending behaviour has been greatly impacted.

Majority of people want to spend their income on their immediate and most important need. This has impacts on the business revenue.

Another challenge is high production cost due to poor infrastructural development such as electricity. With the subsidy removal, the use of generator which is the alternative for electricity costs more.

What do you should drive business and your counsel for young entrepreneurs?
It is not enough to have a business idea or to desire to start a business. To build a business that lasts, one that is profitable, there’s a way to do business. So before you start that business, get the knowledge required for a business to thrive well. We go to school to study a course so that we can have a good understanding of that discipline, I believe this applies to business as well.

What can be done to support Entrepreneurs and Small Scale Businesses?
Entrepreneurship  should be included into school curriculum from primary school so as to build the right entrepreneural knowledge into students as they grow older.

Simplified legal process with regards to business registration, regulations and paperwork.

Young entrepreneurs should have access to funding through loans, grants and other financial incentives tax breaks.