SIA CHARLES MACHA and I
met a year ago while working at the same company in Dar Es Salaam. Sia was the
Office manager and I was the social media manager.
While getting to know
each other, I found out that the other side of Sia is a cake expert, who does
her baking at home (Tegeta, Dar Es Salaam). Last year Sia and I no longer had
the chance to be close, Thank you for the communication that has been
connecting us and seeing our progress. I've been seeing Sia getting bigger and
bigger in her baking career.
At the beginning of this
week, I was interested in wanting to know her whole process, from finding
herself to finding myself as a young female baker who seems to be in a good
position to grow as a multi-use cake entrepreneur.
In a Q&A interview I
did with her, Sia told her heartwarming story:
Sia respects her
grandmother as an influential person in her business. "I personally liked
to cook food, but my grandmother really wanted me to learn about cakes."
said Sia
The cake baking training
journey started with the late Aunty Pambo Pashel Ben at that time Sia had
finished the sixth form, while she was preparing to go to the University for
the Law course. Sia tells that two weeks after learning the important things,
she already knew how to bake cupcakes and chocolate cake. Sia finished her
training knowing a lot about cakes but she didn't have the equipment to help
her develop her skills.
After joining the
University of Tumaini (TUDARCO), Sia got an emphasis from her teacher, who was
encouraging her to sell cakes in college, she had to start using the equipment
of her sister who was in the business of baking bread, cakes and pastries. Sia
was using her brother's equipment and then selling cakes and sharing the profit
with the owner of the equipment.
In 2020, after graduating
from the University, Sia Macha managed to buy her first oven and necessary
equipment for baking cakes. The following year, Sia continued to law school
while continuing to receive cake orders, the difficulty of studies made Sia
stop baking.
After finishing her
studies, Sia Macha was able to return to the cake business with no financial
capital, while having the experience of not being supported by her close
people.
Sia Macha has told me
that the thing that makes her most happy in her business is getting good
feedback from her customers who order her and come back to buy her cakes.
Not giving up and
learning new baking techniques is what Sia Macha emphasizes to a new baker who
is thinking of entering the business.