When Niomi Bhimsain started Yummybites.gy, she had no idea what was in store for her but she was confident that her love for creating desserts and her need to generate an income would help her to push through despite the ongoing pandemic.
The 26-year-old businesswoman of East Canefield Settlement, Berbice, explained to Stabroek Weekend that initially the concept for her business originated from her hobby and love for creating and decorating dessert items and her desire to become an entrepreneur. In June this year, she decided to take a chance on herself as she has always lived by the motto, “you can only fail, if you fail to try”, and created Yummybites.gy.
On the online platform, Bhimsain sells the unique desserts and other items, including breakable chocolate hearts she designs and creates for her customer base, which is quickly growing.
Bhimsain, who is also working on completing her degree in Public Management at the University of Guyana’s Tain Campus, said, “My products are sweet treats which are made strictly out of edible chocolate, which provides a unique taste and something different to Berbicians for gifts, birthday parties and so forth.”
She added, “My intent was to bring new tastes and access to Berbicians who desire to explore new things in the dessert world.”
According to her, some of the items can take two hours or longer to create depending on the amount requested by her clients.
Although Bhimsain operates out of her home at present, she is apparently the only person in Region Six who supplies such products. She explained that after noticing that most small businesses like hers were being started in Georgetown, she decided to give it a go in Berbice.
According to her, her initial challenge was accessing materials which were not commonly found in Guyana. “Yes, one can make purchases online and have items shipped to Guyana, however small businesses suffer in this particular area due to high costs for shipping and customs.”
Despite this, Bhimsain has been going all out to secure her materials at the lowest possible cost with the general idea of allowing her products to be affordable for persons from all walks of life.
She noted that considering she has kept her head on through the challenges she can see herself opening her own location in about five years’ time so as to expand her business to meet customers’ demands.
Additionally, she said that she has received an outpouring of love from the Berbice community. “The response to my business has been great so far through reviews, customers expressing their happiness and satisfaction with their dessert creations,” she said.
Bhimsain, a young mother of a one- month-old, explained that her days are long but she is willing to make the sacrifices to get to where she wants to be. “What I do during the day, I give myself a certain amount of time to finish certain tasks that I need to get done, so by the end of the day I can accomplish all that I need to,” she explained.
She advised others who are wanting to jump into entrepreneurship, to come up with a game plan and “just go for it. What is the worst that can happen? You can only fail, if you fail to try,” she stressed.
Yummybites.gy can be found on both Instagram and Facebook.
