SELFINA
Hotensia Mnyamni, cake shop owner
Hotensia Mnyamani owns a cake shop in Dar es Salaam and is repaying her third loan. After working in a hotel bakery for ten years, Hotensia began baking cakes for sale on her own, out of her home kitchen. Capital from SELFINA enabled her to buy cooking equipment and open her own storefront and shop bakery; she took her first loan in 2007 and is now repaying her third.
Having a shop enables her to display her cakes and attract new customers, while the kitchen has space for the two employees she has taken on to work with the large-scale mixing machine and oven. The income she's earned from her cake business has enabled her to pay school fees for her five children. Hotensia's two oldest have already begun secondary education, supported by money from her shop. This income also helps her pay for other of her family's day-to-day expenses, which, she says, is no longer a struggle. She hopes to take further loans to expand her business, and plans to purchase a juicing machine to offer drinks along with a wider range of breads and snacks. "That is my target for my future," she says. "SELFINA has helped me get to where I am. I am very, very happy."
