Cake Fairy employs over 100

Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter BULAWAYO businesswoman, Ms Cathy Mwanza continues to grow and inspire women in the business sector with the opening of a new upmarket food café in the city. Born and bred in Thorngrove, Bulawayo, the 37-year-old former St Columbu’s pupil, is now a businesswoman of repute after expanding her business venture into […]

Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter

BULAWAYO businesswoman, Ms Cathy Mwanza continues to grow and inspire women in the business sector with the opening of a new upmarket food café in the city.

Born and bred in Thorngrove, Bulawayo, the 37-year-old former St Columbu’s pupil, is now a businesswoman of repute after expanding her business venture into savouries and opening the food café at the recently opened Imbali Mall.

Ms Mwanza has already set her footprints in the confectionery industry after establishing several cake ingredient distribution shops under the banner Cake Fairy. This has seen her expanding her business into baking bread, a production that is now at 2 000 to 3  000 loaves a day. Sunday News caught up with Ms Mwanza on the sidelines of the official opening of the newly established Fairy Café and she narrated her journey in business.

“I was born in Bulawayo and grew up in Thorngrove. I learnt at St Columbu’s in Makokoba and a happily single mother. My business started in 2016 when I started making cakes from home. In 2018, I can say due to discipline in my finances, we then opened Cake Fairy shop. The following year we went to Harare under the brand Cake designs where we opened two more baking supply shops, one in Roseville and the other at Joina City. We have since seen significant growth to an extent of designing Mai TT’s wedding cake,” said Ms Mwanza.

Fairy Cafe

“Last year we started venturing into bread baking. We launched Fairy bread and started our production at 60 but we are now producing between 2 000 and 3 000 loaves per day depending on the market. The bread is complemented by other confectionery products like rolls, buns, pastries et cetera,” she said.

She said ZITF inspired the birth of Fairy Café which has since gained traction in town and on social media.

“Last year in April we were invited at ZITF to set up a kiosk and sell food stuffs. They told us that they knew we were into cakes but requested us to do savory as well. 

“So I looked for equipment to cook chips burgers and the like. When we went there we were overwhelmed with long queues. We then realised people actually love our chips and burgers over cakes. So this is how Fairy Cafe was born,” said Ms Mwanza.

She said at that time she started looking for space in the Central Business District but couldn’t find any. She eventually got space at Joina City in Harare where she opened the first Fairy Cafe in July last year. This led to a delay in opening the Bulawayo branch as they had to settle in Harare.

Ms Mwanza heaped praise on Bulawayo women in business as they have supported each other in their diverse ventures. 

“It showed that Bulawayo women in business support each other despite the caliber or race; Indians, Blacks and Whites alike. Women usually have issues with each other but they came through to support my brand as they did when I was starting out in business,” she said.

Ms Mwanza has 103 employees throughout her shops.