Brains behind Mokolo Bakeries

Its always a good thing to see mother and daughter working closely together to achieve the same vision. When Cynthia entered the job market four (4) decades ago as a cleaner, she never imagined the idea of having her own baking and food service business who become a reality. She started working at Mzingisi Juvenile Centre in Rawsonville as a cleaner, where she worked for almost a decade.

In 1998, while she was juggling long working hours and raising her 2 children Thembela and Ntembeko, Cynthia was brave enough to start her own informal baking business on the side; selling birthday cakes, biscuits, and muffins. Cynthia recounts, "That time I had a very supportive husband who was behind me all the way and I never thought the idea of having my own business existed, but he pursued me to believe in myself". Unfortunately, it turns out Cynthia's husband died 2 years after they jointly started the Mokolo family business.

Thembela joined the family business after the tragedy of losing her father by assisting her mother with baking, cleaning and preparing clients orders. After finishing her Matric in 2007 at Vusisizwe High, Thembela pursue her passion for cooking and baking further by studying towards a Professional Cookery qualification at Cape Town College. "Hospitality has always be my number one passion even in high school I fell in love with Consumer Studies; that's the main reason I studied my course" she reflects.

Following on her mother's foot-steps, Thembela started her professional career as a cleaner after completing her 3 months internship programme. Later in August, Thembela was promoted as an Assistant Cook. With over 18 months in the position, she was appointed as the Cook, working along side her Mother. Starting last year, they both combined their experience in the hospitality industry to boost the family business in making more profit and expanding its offerings. Currently, the business is handling orders left, right, and centre from churches to schools, let alone their regular clientele which is their main target market at this point. "The business is not there yet as we want to be; slowly but surely we will get there. We have so much in the pipeline and we don't want to jinx it, so our clients must watch the space more is coming" Cynthia explained.