Meet Mary, the young Nigerian entrepreneur inspiring hope amid rising unemployment rate
Great things, they say, start small. This has been the motivation for James Mary, a final-year student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in Enugu state.
At a time when unemployment is becoming a disturbing trend among the youths — particularly fresh graduates — Mary is preparing herself for life after school with skill acquisition.
Mary combines her academics with cake baking and other entrepreneurial activities to support herself financially.
The student is the founder of MJAY’s cake collections, a fast-growing brand within the university environment, which specialises in various forms of cakes for special occasions.
From wedding, birthday to other memorable events, MJAY’s Cake is a sure plug.
Baking cake is something Mary has always loved to do but she did not give it the needed attention until the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“I learnt my business (cake baking) in 2020 during the pandemic lock down and it has being marvellous since then because baking is what I had passion for, for a very long time,” she told CRISPNG.
Beyond making profit, Mary’s foray into caking baking is for a major reason — to make people happy and create evergreen memories in a world faced with many challenges
“My business adds joy and smiles to faces in the society because it always comes to the consumers as a special gift through their loved ones.”
Like every other business adventures, Mary’s business has not been without any major challenge. But the final-year student is ready to brace the odds.
“There have been challenges but business is all about passion,” she added.
With her experience as an entrepreneur, Mary has an advise for teeming Nigerian youths battling unemployment.
“My word for the other youths like me is that they should go out there and acquire a skill of their choice because this will help them to be independent and this will reduce the rate of them suffering as a result of unemployment,” she said.
“The truth about this country is that the government can not provide employment for everyone. So, many of us (the youths) need to engage ourselves.”
Mary is dreaming big. In the next five years, she sees her business becoming a household name and creating job opportunities for others.
“In next five years, I see my business becoming a big one. By then, I would have registered MJAY’S cake collections as a company where people can come and get cake, book for future use, thereby creating employment for other people.
Here’s one of her works
