Meet Oke Onyekachukwu, undergraduate baker and fashion designer

Oke Victoria Onyekachukwu is the founder and chief executive officer of Vickkypearl Cakes, a start-up that specialises in the production of fresh cakes in Lagos and its environs.
Oke, who is also the founder of Pearlie Fashion, a fashion business that produces and sells both female and male accessories, has over five years of experience in baking and catering.

The 500-level undergraduate of Federal University of Technology, Akure, was inspired to establish Vickkypearl Cakes by her strong passion for designs and creativity. Oke likewise had a passion for recreating beautiful cake decorations seen in parties and events she attended.
According to her, she had been baking cakes for family and friends for free before making it a business in 2015 after undergoing company registration procedures.
“I believed in my artistic, creative mind. I believed I could make cakes as beautiful as those ones saw at parties and events and I could make exactly what others wanted or dreamed about. Entrepreneurship, for me, is in-born as I never did it basically to augment my allowance,” the baker said.

Before establishing her business in 2015, Oke had attended a catering school to learn designs and gain more knowledge of cake-making from professionals. After some time she started taking some online courses to learn global trends in the two areas.
The undergraduate told Start-Up Digest that she started her business with no initial capital. She stated that most of her clients would always pay upfront for cakes, which often enabled her to buy the ingredients needed for baking and decoration.
When asked about challenges confronting her business, the young entrepreneur said the country’s huge infrastructural gaps had remained a major impediment to her business.

“Bad road is really a big challenge to my business. It is really affecting delivery. Where I could have taken a taxi, I will, sometimes, walk for fear of pot-holes that can cause cracks on the cake,” she said.

“Poor power supply is also a big challenge to my business. As a student I do most of my baking at night. The poor power supply has affected my business and increased my production cost because most times I have to make use of a generator or lamps.

“Another challenge facing my business is the rising cost of baking items in the market and the unwillingness of customers to pay more. Most of them want good cakes for cheaper prices despite high cost of production,” the young entrepreneur said.
She urged the government to provide critical infrastructure such as steady power supply and good roads, stating that Nigeria cannot drive its industrialisation strategy in the absence of infrastructure.

Oke said that despite the challenges, her business had grown since starting, as patronage from new customers increased tremendously.

“Overtime since starting, I have got contracts to supply cakes at the places I buy ingredients to make cakes for my customers. The business has grown dramatically such that I now have enough resources to buy modern baking equipment for the business.

“Since starting last year, I have been contracted to make three weddings cakes and so many birthdays and bridal showers cakes,” Oke added.

When asked how the country’s low consumer purchasing power had impacted on her business, she said, “The business at a point had a decline because customers couldn’t afford to buy the size of cake they wanted. So they ended up requesting smaller sizes or cupcakes but this period happened to be my good moment because I suddenly became the cupcake mistress.”

“I made more cupcakes than ever. There was a time I made 300 cupcakes and sold them in less than a week. During Valentine period this year, I was wowed. Most orders now are cupcakes. I now remind people that I still make eight, ten and twelve inches cakes,” she further stated.

Oke has continued to educate herself more to remain in business as one can never learn enough when it comes to cake-making. She said that social media had made positive impact on her business as some of her customers patronised her using various social media channels.

Oke said she would tell her younger self to brand herself no matter the cost and to start early, stating that when one failed early, it would be easier to try again.

Josephine Okojie