Johnson The Baker’s cakes are becoming a favourite treat for those with a sweet tooth. You can tell going by the flattering feedback shared by happy customers on different social media platforms. “I have to say these @JohnsonRu10 cakes are really good. The moisture of that black forest cake is just right, melts in your mouth. Bravo...” a client shared on twitter. His cakes are known to be fluffy, moist and less sugary. They are mainly birthday cakes, wedding cakes, cupcakes but he also does croissants that he supplies to corporate events, meetings and forums. He also uses less artificial ingredients such as lime food colorants, glucose and local products like strawberries and black grips blueberries. These delicious treats are the works of 19-year-old Johnson Runuya, who says his current business is a result of a hobby he embraced two years ago. “I started baking as a hobby back in 2018. I chose to work in the field when I realised how appreciative people were of my work and after realising how much money I could make from the cakes I bake. That’s how my entrepreneurial spirit got enhanced,” he says. Johnson Runuya was 17 years old when he started baking as a hobby. Runuya mostly uses local products and fresh fruits for his cakes and also makes cupcakes, madelines and croissants. Courtesy photos He says he never thought of becoming a baker until his family bought a house with an indoor kitchen, and an oven of course. “I was baking basic things like lime banana and lemon cake, later on I got a very short internship in a bakery but it wasn’t long enough for me to be able to learn professional baking. At the end of the holidays, I tried to get another internship but that was in vain. It was a straight hustle, then I thought of making use of the internet to get more skills. I taught myself everything I know today until I got to a point where I was the one being asked for internships.” Although he says acquiring this self-taught knowledge made him lose a lot of time, he believes it paved way for him to become an entrepreneur. “I find such challenges necessary for each entrepreneur to go through. Had I got the internship I was looking for, I would probably be working for someone else instead of working for myself. And I would definitely not have gotten the entrepreneurial and innovative mind-set that I believe is acquired through resilience and not giving up while facing adversity,” he says. The other big obstacle he mentions is gaining credibility and trust from customers. He was 17 years old when he started this business and customers putting their trust in him to bake their wedding cakes wasn’t easy. However, with time and credibility, trust was built, as he shares. An extra mile in innovation His cakes are mostly loved because of their softness, which he says is a result of his priority for fresh fruits and local products. This he says is a bonus for his customers. When he bakes, Runuya says he always seeks to give the best of the best experience to his customers; going the extra mile in terms of innovation. He also thinks, as a good baker, one should love their work and listen and understand their customers’ expectations. “A good baker should personally be committed to their work and be ready to work extra hours which is very often the case. You also need to work hard and not prioritise the financial reward mostly at the end of the day.” Johnson The Baker largely operates online, a choice he made with a purpose of easing ordering and delivery for his prospective clients. “Our core value is to ease customers’ experience in ordering a cake. Here is why we chose to stay online; we want our customers to order their cakes on our website just the way they would check out any other article online. We wanted them to be able to do it in few and easy steps and have what they ordered for safely delivered home. We also wanted them to get their orders without physically moving to the bakery to order and make the payment one day and come back the following day to pick the cake.” The young baker wishes for the cake industry in Rwanda to be standardised as well as focus more on innovation rather than imitation, which he says is still pretty common here. He also hopes to start creating a cake identity inspired from the Rwandan culture which according to him is very possible. “My team and I are seeking to become pioneers in the cake industry in Rwanda with pillars and inspiration from the Rwandan culture which we are working on.”
