Women’s Month Profile: Portia Esau
Esau enjoys baking and making a difference in her community
What started off as a love for events and baking, has now turned into a successful small business for Portia Esau.Esau, who registered her business “Portia’s One Stop” in 2007, enjoys cooking and baking for the community and is now established as one of the best small businesses in the Westside area.
Her cakes go as far as all over Soweto, Midrand, Pretoria, Pietersburg, Venda, to name a few.
“I did hair and makeup since high-school days, cooking and basic baking like scones and donuts on occasion for the family.
“My love for cooking and decor just increased as time went on I ended up loving it so much I coordinated small events gradually,” said Esau.
Esau recently applied to get on to the Great South African Bake Off 2016 on the June 12 and 17 in which she got her entry in. After the interview, however, BBC SA and Rapid Blue considered her “not an amateur”
“This was huge and for me to get the call in the first instance was amazing enough,” said Esau.
She has also been working with the community and assists with cooking and organising when called to help any non-profit organisations.
- Esau was also a volunteer at the Westbury Youth Centre for two years and cooked for the students at the centre.
- She then formed part of the incubator programme where she participated in business management programmes and other projects respectively.
She suffered a huge setback when her van was stolen two years ago.
“It was stolen in a matter of minutes and to date no news or feedback from our local police.
“A major setback in my business, yet I overcame the challenges that came, with the help of my heavenly father God who sustains me,” said Esau.
She employs youngsters from Westbury and surrounding areas and plans to employ more, once business expands.
“We are working on great projects , one of them is to revive, finalize and blow up with Westren-Kos In Die Kaas project.
“Raising funds for charity while there is a plan to host a few events annually including a monthly pop up bake-sale, funds will be used in aid of assisting people in our communities with a great need for physical, medical, financial, educational and other needs,” said Esau.
Esau forms part of a business incubator group at the Westbury Youth Centre, where business development, training and mentoring are part of the benefits.
Her advice to the young woman in Westbury is to believe in you, stretch yourself, be challenged, be fearless and rewrite the narrative of Westbury.
“Replace all negativity and be encouraged, for negativity will hold you back in your here and now and most definitely sabotage your future,” said Esau.
