By Margaret Kamba 

There is a local bakery tucked away in Mvuma producing some of the freshly baked confectionery one has ever tasted. If you are not very well versed with the area you can easily think that Mvuma has no gems at all. But right in the middle of the residential area lies this small but "big" bakery which provides delights for the community.

It was during our hunt for a supply of bread that we happened to be connected to this local bakery and we were quickly impressed. 

While the baker could not cope with our demand, the bread and buns did satisfy the market we created for him. With deliveries made at least three times a day, these I am sure were figures he had not made before and we in turn were very satisfied that he pushed through to the end.

Telling the ZANU PF Information and Publicity Department, Dereck Nyamapanzi (37) said the bakery is a partnership between him and his uncle Mutarisi Machazani(40). Nyamapanzi was born in a family of five.

"Starting a bakery has always been a dream since college days back in 2010. I shared the idea with my uncle who is also the co-founder of the now Bakersfield.Fast forward to late 2022 with minimum finances, we re-ignited the idea and managed to mobilize resources to make the dream a reality," Nyamapanzi said.

"The 11th of January 2023 saw the fruition of the idea as we opened our doors to our first baked products to the public. We started production just the two of us with my wife being the bakery shop sales lady while the co-founder's wife was doing the packaging. We also had one employee doing area sales, marketing and local deliveries."

 "We started small with not so many products but have seen a steady rise during the first year up to date."

Speaking about the competition, Nyamapanzi said, "We a quite a small bakery in a big ocean where there are big players like Bakers Inn, Lobels and so on. For that reason, our products are not easily absorbed by the market. We are always the last option,when bread is scarce customers run to us for supplies but when demand is low the market shuns us with only a few taking us seriously," he said.

"This is exacerbated by the fact that our production capacity is quite low making us fail to cope in times of high demand.

 Nyamapanzi added that other challenges include electricity loadshedding, lack of access to financing to acquire equipment so as to expand operations and production.

With massive support from the family, the team is growing stronger.

"Our families have been very supportive since we opened our doors in 2023. My wife was the sales lady while my uncle's wife would do packaging while heavily pregnant. This highlights their commitment and support before we even had the capacity to employ sales and support staff."

Nyamapanzi is currently studying towards his Masters of Science in Tourism and Hospitality from Chinhoyi University and the Co-founder Machazani has a Diploma in Bakery Management from the School of Hospitality and Tourism (Schoto Bulawayo).

Talking about his future plans, he said, "If God permits and funds are availed, we would want to expand production and the bakeries physical space to fit the desired increased production output and operations. This is because our dream is to have a sizable marketshare and dominate the area we operate in as well as to expand reach to near towns and to the rest of Zim. We would also like to extend our utmost gratitude to Johane the 5th of Africa International Church for their support."