The wealth in baking biscuits

A woman picks a biscuit. If you want to do this business on a large scale, the annual revenue earned is about $1.4 million (Shs5 billion) per year. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • You can put your baking skills to test by baking and selling biscuits. This confectionary will be selling away especially if you are making them on a large scale, Dorothy Nakaweesi writes.

Producing and marketing tea cookies/biscuits is a business idea anyone can start especially in the confines of your home.
The confectionary products which are brittle in texture and made in different shapes can guarantee you a return on investment.
Those who are already into this business say it is profitable especially if someone is very efficient in production and making deliveries.

Initial capital
Ms Ritah Omagor of ‘Sought after Bakery’ in an interview with Prosper Magazine said for this kind of business, the initial capital is about Shs1.7 million.
“This involves purchasing an oven which is about Shs1 million, containers for storage which would cost about Shs200,000, a kneading table which costs about Shs350,000 and the ingredients for Shs150,000,” Ms Omagor shared.
She adds that for every Shs50,000 one can be assured of a profit of Shs20,000 every day and at the end of the month this is translated into Shs600,000.
This means annually one is assured of Shs7.2 million based on the economies of scale.
While for those who want to do this business on a large scale, the annual revenue earned is about $1,404,000 (Shs5 billion) per year.
The payback period is really short for example two months and net profit for this investment is 92 per cent.
The market for the cookies/biscuits is mainly in supermarkets, schools, restaurants, banks and corporate companies. One can also do door –to- door supplies.

Raw materials
Ms Omagor says the raw materials include wheat flour, margarine, sugar and a fruit flavour.
“The ingredients can be obtained in Kikuubo and most supermarkets. The market for cookies is available and can be reached through supermarkets, restaurants, school canteens and normal shops,” she adds.

Production process
Ms Omagor shares that the process consists of combining wheat flour, sugar, margarine, milk and water in a dough mixer.
The dough is then mixed with baking powder and kept for around three hours.
The prepared dough is then passed through biscuit molding, stamping, and cutting machines and finally baked in an oven.
The biscuits are then cooled, sorted and packed neatly.

Challenges
The ingredients such as wheat flour and sugar have volatile prices which can affect planning.
There is also a rising craze of consumers being health conscious and avoiding edibles with sugar, which affects the market and calls for extra innovation to respond to such concerns.

Incentives
According to Mr John Musajjakawa, Uganda Investment Authority senior investment officer, the government maintains favourable tax policies for industrialists.
“Industries are represented in the formulation of policies on trade,” he shared.

Advice
Ms Omagor advises you to have passion.
Keeping in touch with clients is equally important and attending to feedback because it’s through this that you will be able to improve your product.