‘Oh Sugar’ for delectable homemade sweet treats

Feb 25, 2024 News

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“Young entrepreneurs bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the market, they generate employment opportunities and stimulate economic growth within their communities, serve as inspiration to others to take risks and pursue their passion, and they may also contribute to economic diversification as they challenge traditional industries.”

By Allyiah Allicock

Kaieteur News – After noticing the lack of businesses that offer sweet treats and desserts in her community, Dr. Keitisha Bynoe made the decision to open her own business that would be able to provide these services.

Her business, called ‘Oh Sugar’ was launched officially in 2021 due to the pandemic, but it set to launch in 2020. Dr. Bynoe is a medical doctor who hails from Zee Lust Village, commonly known as #5 village on the West Coast of Berbice. Her hobbies include reading, and exploring new ideas for her business particularly cookie designs.

In a recent exclusive interview with The Wsaterfalls, Dr. Bynoe said “I was always into cooking and baking savory items. However, I started making desserts in 2019 for my family at home. I googled recipes and taught myself”

She added “While living in West Berbice, I noticed a lack of businesses offering custom treats and desserts, inspiring me to venture into entrepreneurship and thus creating a business that provided that service.”

Oh Sugar is centered on producing homemade custom treats and desserts to suit just about any occasion. Dr. Bynoe recalled that when she initially started, she started off with baking chocolate chip cookies, but this quickly became fascinated with decorated cookies and later expanded to small cakes, brownies and other treats.

Baking these tasty treats for over two years now, Dr. Bynoe expressed that the support for her business and its services has been very consistent and encouraging,.

For this, she is grateful for her customer base.

She added that while the support has been good, she did encounter some few challenges just like any other small business would.

According to her, the challenges were related to perfecting the quality of the products offered like the consistency of the icing, which she noted got better with practice. Another challenge, she noted of was time management.

“As a solo entrepreneur who has a full time job, all the areas of the business were left up to me [planning, baking, decorating, packaging etc.]. However, some of that stress is alleviated by my family on days with sales and when I have big orders,” she mentioned.

Another hurdle too, was getting quality products which can sometimes be difficult to find and costly to acquire.

“Hence, I’ve resorted to buying in bulk and ordering items online, she added.

When asked if she had challenges during the pandemic, she noted that throughout the period, the business remained operational as persons just needed to make their order and pick up or have their items delivered.

While Dr. Bynoe continues to bring new ideas to her business everyday, she told this magazine that her ultimate goal is to establish a physical storefront, which she added would create job opportunities, expand product offerings, and cater to the needs of customers throughout Guyana with quality, beautifully decorated treats.

With that being said, our featured entrepreneur is of the view that small business owners bring about new innovative ideas to the market and create job opportunities in our society. “Young entrepreneurs bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the market, they generate employment opportunities and stimulate economic growth within their communities, serve as inspiration to others to take risks and pursue their passion, and they may also contribute to economic diversification as they challenge traditional industries,” she commented.

When asked what she thinks can be done more in our society to help small businesses grow, Dr. Bynoe related that these businesses will always benefit from more resources, whether financial or through training on matters related to marketing and sales, and customer service just to name a few.

Additionally, she said the availability of pop-up shops and farmers’ markets where small businesses can showcase their items can boost them in a great way also. “As simple as it may seem, social media engagement through simply liking or sharing a post can also contribute to boosting small businesses,” she pointed out.

For persons interested in the services of ‘Oh Sugar’ you can call or connect with them via WhatsApp on telephone number (592) 611-0062. Or reach out to them on Facebook at Oh Sugar and on Instagram at oh_sugar_gy.

 

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• Allyiah Allicock, community, Dr. Bynoe, Dr. Keitisha, The Wsaterfalls

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