Rina’s house -a love for cakes and community service
Popularly known for her signature creative cakes, Rina shares her story on her journey as an entrepreneur and her passion for giving back to the society. Read on.
“My name is Rina and I am a mumpreneur. I am a mother of four and the proprietor of Rina’s House.
I was inspired to start Rina’s House because of my love for the kitchen. I have cooked since I was small then I got kids and I realized I want good cakes to accompany all the good food I made for their birthdays. At that point, I was in employment when I realized I was losing out on my children’s growth and major milestones because I was working long shifts and the working hours were really bad. I made up my mind to stay at home and go commercial with my cakes.
Rina’s House is Home based…..hence the reason why I called it Rina’s House. I have since moved the bakery away from my kitchen but a walking distance from my humble abode. We normally require a weeks notice while placing an order.
I would say the difference between my bakery and others is LOVE…..I make all my cakes with loads of love, I even get carried away and do a bigger cake than what the client asked for just to make a theme come through and we depict it as is.
It is more of a passion than business related, that’s why I only take a certain amount of orders in a week as I give it my all….I pour my heart into decorating and finishing a cake.
I am so passionate about my business because I get to tell a story and warm a heart with a cake!!!
To be honest, my joy is seeing a child’s face light up when they get to see their cakes…and more points to the ones who refuse to cut their cake. I bring their dreams to life and that’s why some of them refuse to cut their cake… they say “….you’ll cut Dora’s face !” 🙂
Like any other business, my line of business faces certain challenges like power outages and lack of power back up. If power goes when you are in between baking a batch of cakes then your goose is cooked as what we have for back-up is a charcoal “jua kali” oven and it takes a while to go on and be ready to use.
The second biggest challenge would be delivery……we have cakes that just decide to fall apart as sometimes the roads are rough and bumpy and the client forgets to mention this where the design is complex.
In addition, commodity price fluctuations, from flour, eggs, to cake cartons and even cost of casual labor varies from time to time. Sometimes we are forced to engage casuals when its peak season especially during wedding season in April, August and December. You’ll find that these casuals will charge according to your work load at times instead of the required daily wage since sometimes we may need them off peak.
I am also very passionate about COMMUNITY SERVICE
People think it should be left to big organizations to offer CSR but any individual can. I believe it’s important to give back to the community because it’s the very same place that we all learn from regardless of what you do as a person.
Don’t we learn a thing or two when you go to visit a children’s home or a hospital? Give back, and it will always come back to you. It’s a practice that should be encouraged by all and we’ll leave a much better world for our children to inherit and learn from.
I use my skills to give back to the community by offering baking and cake decoration classes at the Langata Women’s Maximum prison. I believe in giving where it matters most, this will help these ladies be able to pick up and move on once they are released as many are times when no one wants to be associated with an ex-con and normally they slip back into crime as they do not have much to do to help them get integrated back into the society.
Besides teaching the reformed inmates at Langata Women’s Prison the rest is basically on a one to one interaction. I have mentored and helped 3 young single mothers from the Sinai slums to be business women one who works as an errand lady and cleaner at the bakery, she’s actually managed to educate her 4 children without handouts that she used to rely on.
Whatever you are doing that has enabled you to be where you are, it’s because of God, there’s no other better way to thank him and to show gratitude other than giving back to the less fortunate for only then does the Almighty above see and give back to you. Money is never everything, showing a skill you have to someone else to be able to also make a living out of it is a blessing enough.
I have learned to appreciate things they way they are and strive to make a change where I can humanly possibly do. Things will not always be the way we want them to be, but if you can change a situation do your best, it’s the best feeling you can ever get to know that you did something about someone/something. .
Want to connect with Rina? Find contacts below:
Rina’s House:
Email: rinashouse@gmail.com
Facebook: Rina’s House
Tel: +254 722 822 851