I worked in the garage for four years with no pay, with nothing but doing it because I loved it: Veronica Shezi – owner, Vero's Cakes.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  In this week's SME feature we speak to Veronica Shezi of Vero's Cakes, who talks about turning her natural flair into a business.

Vero, how did you start up?

VERONICA SHEZI:  The business itself started 12-, 13-odd years back…. At the age of 12, 13 I was baking already. It started with my mother giving me a friendship cake in Diepkloof…. But I didn't think that I was a baker. I thought I was cut out to be a scientist or something.

So I went out of my way and I studied science. I studied analytical chemistry and I thought, mmm, I've made it, I'm going to be something. But I realised that I didn't like it, I just didn't like whatever I was doing.

I started all over again and I studied for something else. I thought maybe I needed to be in an office. Then I did IT [only to realise] I'm not going to be programming and stuff – it's not me. At that time I was feeling lost, I didn't know where to go. I was working as a database administrator, but I was never happy. Never. Always thinking I needed to be doing something else that was bigger than what I was doing.

In the background, though, I was busy baking for my friends and giving them cakes for free. And one day one of my friends asked me for a bucket of scones. I said to her, “I will charge you for this,” because she was taking it to a funeral. She took it and came back and said they wanted four buckets. I thought, huh, okay – I was working full-time – but I would produce her buckets. I didn't even know how much to charge. I played around with numbers and voilà, I had a price. I gave her the four buckets and the next week people wanted more. I thought, oh, my word, what have I started? It started like that.

I employed one lady, who helped me while I was still at work. I trained her, taught her how to bake. I'm talking about someone who didn't even know 250ml means one cup. This person knew nothing about baking. But today she is my best baker of note. I employed her and I was working full time on the side. Then my orders became bigger and bigger and I realised that this was not going to work because I was burning out. I said one had to die, and my job had to die at the time, so I let it go.

That's how Vero's Cakes started – in my garage. I worked in the garage for four years with no pay, with nothing but doing it because I loved it. People ordered and I was so thankful that someone wanted my product. And every time I would just polish it more and get better and better at what I was doing – with new recipes. And ja, it all started like that.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  Any challenges in your journey so far?

VERONICA SHEZI:  Working with people: you face people's issues that you didn't think about when you started in business. You think your business is all about baking, then you realise that there are other things involved. You have to deal with the people now, understand them, that they are people not machinery. They have got feelings. You have to work with them and nurture them and take them step by step until they reach the point where you want them to be.

And, as a business, when you start up, the biggest challenge that I had was access to finance. It was terrible, I must say. My mother, my sister, everyone had to go around looking for loans for me.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  That brings me to my next question – how did you tackle the funding hurdle?

VERONICA SHEZI:  I didn't look at it as a bigger picture, as a big business. I saw it as what I could do now, for now, and to survive now. And, because I was working in my garage, the first thing I did was I bought a small oven that could take four trays, which was bigger than my normal kitchen oven that took two trays, so I could bake with four trays at a time. And wow, I could produce a bucket within an hour.

So starting small, little steps, and understanding your space in that little time that you have with whatever you have – it's enough to get going. And, as you go along, you reinvest in your own business with your own money that you put in. And of course you have to borrow here and borrow there, [from] all the best persons and run around for a week without answering their calls. But it works out at the end of the day.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  Now tell us more about the partnership that you have with the mentorship programme. How did that assist you?

VERONICA SHEZI:  The Hope Factory has been mentoring me from 2014. Ever since being in The Hope Factory, it just opened my eyes and I realised that when you work on your own and you are your own boss and you make decisions on your own, you are lonely on that journey. No one is there to pat you on the shoulder and say, Veronica, you are going in the right direction. Or just hang on, just think about this, are you sure this is what you want to do? So for me it is like I have someone who is there next to me who I can run ideas by, and I can sit down and tell them my story and let them listen to what I want to do, and advise and nurture me in … getting to where I want to be, because most of the time I was literally baking. I was a baker, I was not running a business.

They made me realise that it's better than always baking. [They made me ask myself] can you just start now and think about how you are going to grow the business and look at it as something else, not just a little thing that you do? Sometimes when you are a small business you think small. But they made me realise that you should look at your accounts, sit down and look at your accounts and make decisions based on your management accounts. Are they making sense, are you making the right decisions? For me it has been a very amazing journey.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  Moving on to what your views are on the current SME space in South Africa, do you feel that entrepreneurs are getting enough support, having spoken about the hope factory?

VERONICA SHEZI:  I don't think they are getting enough support. There is more to it – like, for instance, it's not just about the journey as an entrepreneur that someone is walking with you.

For instance, let me tell you about myself. I didn't have a baking background before. But if I had gone to the baking industry and got an overview of what's happening in that industry, I think I would have been thinking differently to [how] I am now. And for me to compensate for those things, I had to literally go and look for courses, like go to a culinary school, so that I could understand the kitchen.

When you ask people, “Can you mentor me, can you tell me, can you let me into your business and let me see?” they won't let you. They just won't give you the chance. And sometimes you just need to find ways to make things happen yourself. But it's difficult, I must say. It's not easy. It's not an easy journey. But it's doable – not easy, but doable.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  How would you then advise anyone who is looking to start their own business from scratch without knowledge and just a dream?

VERONICA SHEZI:  Get going. Take that dream and make it happen. Go in little steps, because I think if it's something that you want to start on, don't just go big on day one. Then you will crash. If it's a dream, just get going. Don't let anything stop you. Get advice. Talk to as many people as you can, and do research. It's important to have your research and understand the environment that you want to work in because with some businesses there are regulations and you need to understand exactly what you are getting yourself into. But make it happen.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  Lastly, where to for Vero's Cakes and how do people find you?

VERONICA SHEZI:  Vero needs to see her name written everywhere – Vero's Cakes – from Joburg to the Eastern Cape. My cakes do get to the Eastern Cape, but I need to have a presence. I need to have a presence in Limpopo, I need to have a presence in KZN. I'm working hard and making that come together. It's a dream that I am working on. And my workers are part and parcel of this dream as well, because I've been with them all this time and I want them to grow with me. I want to see them flourishing and being part and parcel of the story.

We are in Randburg, at the corner of Selkirk in Blairgowrie. Our number is 011 789 7082. We are also on the web: www.veroscakes.co.za. and you can also catch us on Facebook,Vero's Cakes.

TUMISANG NDLOVU:  That's was Veronica Shezi of Vero's Cakes in this week's SME feature.