Student opens bakery in Seething-Wells

Photo: cakes by yasmin Umar

Yasmin Umar, 19, who is a self-taught baker based in Seething Wells Halls of Residence has started up her own bakery business. Umar specialises in cakes which includes a wide selection of different assorted flavours, designs and sizes. Umar is a 1st-year student at Kingston University who started up her business earlier this month.

Y: "I’ve always been passionate about cooking. It’s a hobby of mine so I figured why not use this skill to make money, also when you’re in university it’s easy to find yourself in finical difficulties so I wanted to figure out a way to ensure that I don’t have to face that." What would your advice be for young entrepreneurs? Y: "Get it started don’t hold off your ideas if there is something you really want to do just invest the right amount of time and effort and everything should come together." What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced whilst running your business? Y: "As you can imagine preparing large quantities of cakes in such a small communal kitchen can be frustrating as I have to schedule in times with my flatmates letting them know when I will be using the oven and how long for. That I think is my biggest challenge as sometimes I have larger orders and I may take longer than scheduled."

Do you think living at Seething Wells helps you in gaining clients? Y: "Yes, of course, I think that living in halls is the best place to gain customers because everyone knows each other and the word of my business spreads through word of mouth." For enquiries or to make your orders contact Yasmin on y.umar@live.live.com Or follow her on Instagram @yasminshomemadecakes.