Esther & Jennifer’s story: a recipe for mentoring success

Esther Gathage is the owner of Herstee’s Bespoke Cakes in Nairobi, Kenya. Her cake business makes beautiful and delicious creations for all occasions. Being mentored by DHL Express’ Jennifer Thompson, based in the USA, through our Mentoring Women in Business programme meant a year of collaboration and professional development, with brilliant outcomes for Esther and Jennifer alike.  

Esther 

“I chose entrepreneurship back in 2018. We had just moved to Mombasa and my child was only six months old, so I found it hard to secure a job. 

I began wondering what to do – I didn’t want to just stay at home. Mombasa has a very rich culture of food, especially sweet things like cakes and biscuits. 

Inspired by a former neighbour, who used to make lots of cakes, I decided to learn baking and turn it into a business. I enrolled into some baking classes and began working at home. I started out with muffins and cupcakes, and with time I was able to make actual cakes.  

One of the main challenges I face as a woman entrepreneur is work life balance. Having young kids like I do, sometimes it’s hard to strike a balance between managing a successful business and also running a successful family. It makes it harder for women to succeed. 

If women entrepreneurs don’t have a proper support system to take care of their kids, then they are more likely to fail than men. When it comes to taking care of the kids, most of the responsibility is the woman’s, so if she wants to work or do other activities it can be difficult. If her children are being looked after, she can focus on her business, which makes her more likely to succeed. 

The other challenge for women entrepreneurs is accessing finance to grow their businesses. I find in our society, it’s men who are afforded the most financial muscle.  

I believe that it’s important to have a mentor, someone who has been there and done what you aim to do, so that you can grow and also know the steps to avoid so as not to make the same mistakes. I wanted to find a mentor so that I could enhance my skills and gain more knowledge in order to build my business further, so I decided to apply to the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s Mentoring Women in Business programme.  

My mentor, Jennifer, was a very nice lady. She was able to help me set goals and to be objective about these. She also guided me on putting systems in place so that I can achieve my goals.

What I liked most about Jennifer is that she was able to give me a wider perspective. She opened up my eyes to not only think locally, but globally. She challenged me to go further and look at what other bakeries around the world are doing, so that I can know how my company meets global standards and expectations. 

Jennifer and I would meet twice a month or even more. As soon as I would tick off one goal, we would start working toward achieving the next. 

I’ve been applying the knowledge I gained – not just from Jennifer but also from the programme’s resources and webinars – to my business, with one of the major changes being venturing into using social media. I started with using WhatsApp and Instagram for marketing, and now I’m building those platforms while also working on my Facebook page. I also learned about customer service and retention. 

For me, having those soft skills that I got from the programme does represent success in one aspect. My mentor, who is successful in her own right, taught me that success takes time. You build it slowly, it doesn’t happen all at once.  

I’m still working toward the day when I’ll be able to call myself a successful businessperson, but I believe that I now have the skill set and the ideas that I need to get there. The Mentoring programme enabled me to grow my confidence and challenge my imposter syndrome. Now, if I’m offered an opportunity to do something, I dive into it without fear. 

Mentoring is beneficial for women entrepreneurs because we get to learn from someone who is successful in their own career or business. They hold your hand and encourage you step by step so that you can avoid the mistakes and build on the positives in order to grow and develop your business. 

A mentor is someone who you are free to share your goals with, without any fear and without any judgment. It’s a safe space. Having that kind of person who you can confide in and they believe in your ideas, I think that’s the big picture.  

I’m grateful for the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women who are, in their own way, imparting that knowledge to women. If you teach someone a skill, they will definitely build on that skill and it is going to help them make progress or move forward.” 

Jennifer 

“Having worked for DHL for 20 years, I wanted to utilise the skill sets that I’ve learned in decades of leadership in order to help another female be successful. I was interested in mentoring a woman from another country to give back not just locally, but globally. 

DHL gave us the opportunity to become mentors in the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s Mentoring Women in Business programme. I researched a little bit about the Foundation. I saw what they stood for and it really interested me, so I signed up.

My relationship with Esther was amazing. We had that equal energy, equal want and desire to achieve her goals. We started our partnership by asking “what is it you want to accomplish?”. 

She literally taught herself how to bake cakes in her apartment during COVID, trying to bring in some extra money while raising two young children. Her goal was to bake a wedding cake, but she needed to go to school to learn how to do the fondant that is often used. We started with that goal: to figure out how to go to school and learn those skills. Not only did Esther achieve her goals, she surpassed them.  

My overall experience with the programme was enlightening. It really helped me see how the other countries work.  

What I learned from Esther is never give up. Here is somebody that had a goal and wanted to achieve something huge in a short amount of time. Because of her time and dedication, it made me give the same amount, if not more, to make sure that we achieved what she wanted to accomplish. And boy, did she.

What I also gained from this is sharing the experience with my colleagues, my friends and my family. I love hearing from my colleagues asking for more updates on what’s going on with my mentoring journey. I know we will have many more future Cherie Blair Foundation for Women mentors from DHL. 

My skills and my confidence have also grown from participating in the programme. Thanks to Esther, the programme not only showed me that the skill sets that I have learned in my leadership can be passed on, but now she can pass them on too. In fact, some of her comments were, “I took everything that you’ve helped me learn to grow more businesses”. 

If you’re thinking about becoming a mentor, do it. The folks that are part of this programme come to the plate ready to go. They want to learn. They want to achieve success. And with your help, that can happen.”