riverside_irene_kwagala, take 04 _ jun 5, 2024 001_irene_kwagala's stu

Michelle Labtenia, an entrepreneur from Uganda, shares her journey of starting her business, Cold Niche Juice and Cakes. She initially began by offering juice services for free at a friend's wedding and realized she could turn it into a business. She sought guidance from a friend in the juice business and took classes to enhance her skills. Michelle later expanded her business to include cake design, learning from a pastry chef. This story emphasizes the importance of recognizing opportunities, utilizing friendships, and investing in personal growth. Hi, welcome to the Grass Life podcast. I'm your host, Irene Korogoda, thank you for tuning in to today's podcast. I am joined by a friend, her name is Michelle Labtenia, and we're just going to have a conversation about business, stewarding a new season, stewarding your guests well, and the reason why I invited her to have a conversation today is because she's just started a new business, and she's on this new journey, and I just wanted to get her insight, give her some wisdom on how she got here, how she's doing in her new business, and how she's moving forward, so welcome, Michelle. Hello, Michelle, say hello. Hi, Irene, thanks for hosting me. Again, I'm Michelle Labtenia from Uganda. Bless this technology that has brought us here together, because we're in different countries now. Yes, I'm happy to be here. Okay, tell us a little bit of what you do. Oh, yeah, so right now, right now I own the cold niche juice and cakes. I deal in cakes, confectionaries, and organic juice, fresh juice for functions like weddings, parties, any kind of party, and also in the near future, I'm planning to start doing deliveries, everyday deliveries for people who will be wanting. Okay, what do you mean by everyday deliveries? Like everyday deliveries, anytime you want, I can deliver anytime you want. Oh, all right. Yeah, not only for parties. Do you sell cakes, juices, cakes, and stuff like that? Yes. For people? For people. Okay. Yeah. Monday, 16th. Yeah, but I haven't gotten there yet, but it's also in the plans. Yeah. Okay, so I do believe that every one of us is a gift in this world. We come into the world, and we are not random. We are created in Christ's image. I'm going to read a scripture. It's in Ephesians 2 and verse 10, and it says that we are God's handwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance. So everybody that comes into the world comes here with a predestined work. And so many times people are like, what's my purpose? Why am I here? Why am I here? But I do believe that just in the instance of your existence, you are a gift to the world. Yeah. Right? Yes. And God has given you gifts that are already in you, but you have to steward them. So for me, when you told me you started a business, the first thing that came to me was that you're stewarding your creativity. Yes, ma'am. Because you're one of the creative people that I know. You're very creative. You're very artistic, and I really appreciated that. You know what? You took your gifts in a way, and are now starting something, and you're using your gifts. And so for me, that is what it means to steward, because stewardship means to manage. Yes, yeah. So you're managing the gifts that God gave you through your business. Yeah. So I just wanted a background of how did you come to this place? How did you come to say, you know what, let me start something? Because it's new, and where did the idea come from? Yeah. To be like, you know what, I can do this. Okay. Thank you, Irene. Oh, first of all, I think let me talk first about the Jews, because at first I first started with Jews. I was at my friend's wedding committee. I was a member of the committee at a friend's wedding. So I was part of the committee. So they're looking for service providers. And at the back of my mind, I was like, in all these things, in all the service providers they're looking for, can't I really do anything? Because we're all like paying this one for this, paying photographer this, paying, you know, paying, paying. So I was like, I'll do that. Yeah, paying service providers, like looking for them. So I was like, I'll do the Jews for free. I was like, I'll do the Jews for free. I'll just buy the fruits, like everything that's needed, and I'll do the Jews for free. So in that function, I did that Jews for free. And at the back of my mind, I was like, can't I, I didn't even have a business name when I took up the offer. I didn't have anything. I never thought of doing a business, Jews. I had no idea about it. Like nothing at all. But I had a friend doing Jews business. So I consulted that friend of mine, because I took up that gig. Okay, not a gig, I offered, when the wedding was left with like one and a half months. So I consulted with my friend, the one in the Jews business, to come up with what will be needed, like renting those, the machines, where to buy the food, and all that. Where to get the fruits, where to get, how to do it, because me, I thought, it's just these normal Jews we make at home. And of course, it's the normal Jews, but this one is for a wedding, it's for a function, like 200 people are going to drink on it. So at least it has to be slightly different from the one we make at home. So I started taking up classes with my friend, the one in the Jews business, to teach. Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. So how to mix the cocktails, not like this, blending all fruits, like let's say you want to do mangoes, passion and carrots, you blend that once. No, it was a different case. Everything was new. So I took a couple of classes, and yeah, I made the Jews on that day for the function, and it came out well. Yeah, and I faced some challenges, as for a start, and actually the challenges I faced, I'm very sure even those already in businesses, in the business can face it as well. It's not because I was new in business. Yeah, so that's how called Mixed Jews came up before the cakes came in. Okay. And for the case of the cakes, I have my good friend as well. She's the pastry chef. For them, I've been doing them for some time. I go there, I help her out, she teaches me. I just wanted to acquire a skill. Because there is one thing... Okay, so you have to know that the design is different. Yes, the pastry chef is also different. So at first, I used to go to her place when she's making cakes for a client, and she used to have a hard time designing, because she's a good baker, but designing is a hard time. She's a good baker, but designing is a hard time. Then I was like, let me try out. I went on YouTube, I was like, I can do this. I designed a cake for her. For my first time, I designed a cake with the YouTube tutorial. And she was like, hey Michelle, Johan's reading you with art. I was like, okay, yeah. But I can't even design this. I studied this, but I can't. I was like, no one can teach you how to design, because art is art. Every day, different designs come up. Because for the recipes, the recipes are always the same, but the designs always change. So that's how the cake business started up. All right. As you've been talking, there's so many things I realized. The first thing I realized is opportunities are all around you. You just need to be vigilant and look. Yes, and trust in them. Say you were just in a meeting, and there were all these people, they're like, but wait. You know all these people who are taking money, can't I also partake of this? Yeah. You know, and then they're like, okay, let me also do something. That means that the next list of service providers, you're going to be one of them. One of them, exactly. But the other people will look at it and just be like, oh, me, I don't have anything. I don't have any opportunities. You know, we even pray and be like, God, give me an opportunity. But then opportunities are all around us. You just need to know them and to really be bold enough. You know, because that was boldness. Like, really, what's that? That was so much boldness for you. Mostly, but that's just saying, for real, I'd never, and I had no one to help me out. But you saw an opportunity. Like, I'm thinking about it, like, I didn't know anything. Yeah. Like, at least I still have time. You saw an opportunity and you went for it. That's it. Yes. Like, I've got this opportunity. I have enough time. But then when you had the opportunity, the next thing you did was to reach out to a friend. Yes. Yeah. So that means, okay, I've seen this opportunity. I've taken this opportunity. I am not prepared at all. Before the birth of this opportunity, I am going to make sure I am ready for it. Yeah. So it's like, okay, I've done this. Now I'm going to go back and grow so that I can actually deliver on what I've said I'm going to do. I'm going to deliver. And this reminds me that, you know what, you are as good as your friends. Like, your community, you know what they say, that your community is literally your capital. Yeah. Right? So it's like, you look around you and you're like, who can help me with this? Yeah. And you're like, yeah, I know somebody. Then it's like, you utilize your friendships. Yes, that's true. And you took classes. By the way, taking those classes. Yeah, for sure. Here, if you're to take such classes, you even pay. You have to pay like some good amount. They charge you for a cocktail for what you want to learn. Because this is all about cocktails. They be like, this cocktail, I'll charge you this. At the end of that day, learning all cocktails, you'll be like in 2M, in 2 million Ugandan shillings. If you're to like go for professional studying about dressmaking, but me, they taught me for free. Because you utilized your friends. Yeah, before, I wasn't thinking about it because I've been friends with that friend of mine for some time, but I wasn't thinking about it. I'd never even bothered to ask before, like, how is this business done or what may be happening? No, I never. Because you had not taken on an opportunity like that, you didn't need them like that. Yeah. And that is why we cannot take our friendships for granted because you never know when you're going to need them. Yeah, that's true. Your friendships are social capital. Like you never know. It's like putting, it's like banking. It's like you put in money, you put in money, you put in money, and then you withdraw out. But some of us have really taken our friendships for granted. We are not investing in our friendships. And then when you need money, you want to go and withdraw. Withdraw what you haven't deposited. So that is to encourage us to really treat our relationships with dignity and to be investing in our relationships because you never know when you're going to need a withdrawal from that friendship. And also keep good company.