Page 5 - Cornwall 1 2021

ENTREPRENEURS

Please tell us a little about yourselves. savings goals by adding small sums Cecilia: As Juani says, we have very
Cecilia: Our family of four moved into together over a period of time. active Instagram and Facebook pages,
both with the name of two recovering
the Estate in 2004 when Juani was three
OF SISTERS shy little Afrikaans girls at that time! discussed, argued or planned in any address as a further contact option:
Juani: The name however was not
broke girls. We also have an email
years old and I was five. We were such
sort of way. Cecilia spontaneously
tworecoveringbrokegirls@gmail.com.
Juani: We both attended Cornwall Hill
thought of it, we both loved it, and so
Social media serves as our portfolio of
College until we matriculated. Cecilia in
the work we have done but we urge
we re-branded our entire page and
2017 and myself in 2019. In 2018 Cecilia
started her first year at the University started over. For me, our business is clients to show us what they’d like.
another thing that just ties everything
of Pretoria, as an architecture student. I we love about each other together. Two. Have you had any highlights or
joined her on campus in 2020, a first year recovering.broke.girls. is mostly about mishaps in the business?
industrial engineering student. the two of us enjoying what we do and Juani: I wouldn’t say we have war stories
doing it together. Actually, we are polar or have had any massive mishaps in
Cecilia: Currently I am doing my opposites, each of us has our own unique the kitchen, but we do have our late
architectural internship in Cape Town, style, creativity and way of thinking, nights and early mornings that make for
having completed my undergrad degree but you won’t find a better team. We laughter and friendship.
last year. Our mom is the owner of an are both very creative and needed an
interior design company and our dad is escape from our day-to-day school and Cecilia: Yes, we have many a time fallen
an advocate working in the labour law university experiences. Our baking has asleep while decorating cookies and
department for Sasol. Creativity runs become our escape, where we enter a woken up somewhere in the night stiff
in the family. Our parents, too, have a new, almost ‘care-free’ world of colours and cold and inadvertently covered in
creative streak and they raised us to be and tastes. The main thing the business icing!
curious about - and to find ways that offers me is the time we spend together,
we can make a difference in - the world but also receiving a little extra money for Juani: Like the time we started a four-
we live in. That difference, now, is in the something we both adore doing. To be tier birthday cake at 11 pm or the time
sweetest of forms: baking. able to do it together and to work so well I woke up with a cookie stuck to my
together is an absolute blessing in my cheek. The main happening for me is
What is two.recovering.broke.girls all life, and I wouldn’t wish for anything else. the great friendship we have built over
about? the years.
Juani: To take you back to the very start Cecilia: The most important part really
of two.recovering.broke.girls, is to go is that we really love spending time What does the future hold?
through a timeline of nine years. When together, baking just sort of connects us, Cecilia: While we have many dreams
I was in grade five and just eleven years even now that we’re not in the same city. and aspirations for our futures in our
old, I started to sell cupcakes and muffins We are best friends and I wouldn’t want it respective career paths, we would
as a source of pocket money. Cecilia any other way. really like to keep the business running
accompanied me Saturday mornings at throughout our lives. I am currently
our gate as the “money handler,” while I Tell us about the range that two. based in Cape Town and I am aiming to
baked back in the kitchen. She was the recovering.broke.girls offers? extend the business branch here as soon
face customers met and bought from. Cecilia: We pride ourselves in being as I am settled in. Juani will continue
This was the start of the home-based able to say that we can cook and bake providing service for the customer base
business I called “Semi Soet.” As word almost anything you’d like and, if we in Pretoria we have built up over the
got around, we became more popular, don’t know how to, we will learn. We also years.
which led to more help being needed offer - and enjoy the challenge of making
in the kitchen. This resulted in Cecilia products for numerous alternative Juani: Our future has so many
joining me as a baker roughly three years dietary requirements such as gluten free, possibilities and opportunities now
later. As co-partners we decided a new sugar free and vegan. Our biggest sellers that we can say we are Cape Town and
business name was necessary, which led though, are our Royal Icing Soetkoekies, Pretoria based. This does open us up to a
to “Meraki Artistry,” the predecessor of which we decorate with customised much larger customer base, which may
two.recovering.broke.girls . This business designs and specially selected colour lead to us hiring extra assistance.
venture included many products: glass palettes. We have baked for numerous
photo frames, hand painted gift cards, events such as weddings, 21sts, birthday Cecilia: We would eventually like to
baked goods and homemade body celebrations for all ages and a range of involve more people, as an initiative
butters. other special celebrations. to teach people, be they our age or
older, how to start a business from their
Cecilia: Initially the name two.recovering. How can people see the range and own homes and how passion and a bit
broke.girls was a joke between the two order? of promoting can help such a project
of us, but the idea behind the name has Juani: To shed some light on the inner flourish from humble beginnings into
subsequently become a challenge that workings of the business - we are 90% something to be proud of!
we set for ourselves. We strive to prove, online based. The other 10% consists of
through the opportunities we are given word-of-mouth referrals from friends Juani: With our current work and study
and the ones we create for ourselves, and family. We use Instagram and commitments, I think we will take it
that we can be self-sufficient and that Facebook to showcase custom-made as it comes. I do, however, dream of
we have the skills and abilities to do orders we have done, as well showing branching out in the future with our own
more than just our chosen field of study. new products, price lists and packaging premises, a team of bakers and a large
So, the recovering is our little reminder options. Orders can be placed using list of clients, where we bake for a whole
to ourselves that we can achieve our direct messaging on Instagram. range of events.

Cornwall View • Issue 1 2021 3