Devika Brendon
Entrepreneurs are disruptors by nature: progressive thinkers, impatient with limitations, people who go their own way – and not on the roads generally travelled. Melissa Dharmadasa, the creator of BakesByBella, highlights this when she says:
‘The mind is a powerful thing, we have to feed it positive things. Find your song, find your support system. Love yourself. Never give up.’
Melissa has been able to use her initial training as a scientist in the catering business she built. She said in an early interview that the usual professional pathways ‘were not cut out for me’. It is very interesting that she swapped the normal word order round there: most people say ‘I am not cut out for…’ This spoke strongly of her sense of self-worth. I asked her how important in her view are frustration, setbacks, and other obstacles to an entrepreneur? What mindset is most effective in dealing with the challenges that come up in the journey? And in the personal evolution that accompanies it?
‘Studying for a demanding degree in Biomedical Sciences whilst doing 5 part-time jobs to put myself through university helped me at a young age to develop soft skills in time management, analytical problem solving and becoming self-motivated to achieve my goals. Never did I feel I would have the courage at the time to switch fields, but I’m glad I made the switch, despite the challenges that came with it.’
There are many setbacks and challenges in an entrepreneurial journey. This is where courage, resilience and a strong support system is important.
‘At the end of the day, we need to enjoy what we do. There is no script to that. You need to learn to adapt, learn to improvise when obstacles are thrown in your way and have the resilience to face them.’
Entrepreneurs do not think like most people. They are pioneers, and innovators, and the challenges of this include finding, creating and inspiring a team to assist in giving form to the visionary ideas they have in their minds. Their challenge is to enjoy, appreciate and celebrate what they have already achieved, while always wanting to progress and evolve.
As they progress in their journey, they break new ground:
‘I believe I may have been one of the first to use Instagram as a tool in Sri Lanka and launch a small business. This came to light following a Google round table discussion that was documented by UNESCAP on their paper on Digital Dynamism ‘How IT and Social Media are Enhancing Business Opportunities for Sri Lankan Entrepreneurs’.
When I created the page it was merely to separate the baking pictures from my personal profile. However, following a charity bake sale, my family and friends encouraged me that I should strongly consider doing it as a business. So I titled it “Bakes by Bella” with a unique hashtag in #bakesbybella to let people know what desserts and concoctions I put out that may interest them. At the time, there were no sponsored stories or posts, and it was only organic growth and conversion incurring zero marketing costs (during this time FB had not bought over Instagram, and had not changed the algorithms yet, so it ensured each post had a high reach to the active Instagram audience in the respective region).
What helped to grow my audience is engaging content on my page, coupled with consistent product quality. I positioned Bakes by Bella as a lifestyle brand and not just as a product. I had a typically younger demographic following from the 15-20 age segment at the inception but now the active segment with the opening of our café is the 20 to 35 age group. This, in turn, helped me to achieve a good conversion from ‘likes’ to ‘sales’ on each post I put on my page. Instagram was an actively growing segment that responded well to my offering and the chemistry worked. Currently there is an active audience of 800,000 + users in Sri Lanka, with very high penetration in the smartphones market too, which in turn also contributed to the growth of my audience.
‘There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach in sustaining the brand. I keep working hard to keep things fresh and appealing to our audience in line with the brand offering and what it represents.’
Entrepreneurial effort and progress are inspiring. Melissa says:
‘I am glad it sparked a positive domino effect for Sri Lanka’s startup ecosystem for women in Management.
What started off as a passion project is now a fully-fledged business not just confined to the domains of a café and cakery but a lifestyle brand that is committed to impacting the community around us positively, with the power of influence the brand has organically built over the past four years. So I feel BBB has a responsibility to navigate our business journey responsibly but also look at verticals and domains in line with our ethos to grow as a community-conscious brand.’
Creating a lifestyle brand means that the products created by a company are associated in the minds of the public with joy, happiness and the good things of life. The ethos of the brand becomes an extension of the personality of the entrepreneur. This warmth and generosity is responded to by the customers, creating a positive dynamic which is business gold. Thoughtful attention to detail, aligned with the big picture vision each step along the way creates an abundance which appeals to a large and appreciative clientele, and creates a community around the enterprise.
Melissa says: ‘I invite my guests to a culinary Imaginarium (yes we coined that term!) BBB is SL’s FIRST themed café, and what has contributed to spreading the word is my lovely guests sharing content on their pages with pictures/tags and positive reviews that helped us gain not just new visitors, but keep the regular guests coming back.
What helped to grow the business was my loyal customer base. They have been my own sales team. When I was in the transition phase of switching from a home-baker to a café, my followers requested to send pieces of art which they felt would help to create a cafe culture for my business, which was built on this natural chemistry we have built with our loyal followers and fans.
As far as SEO/digital strategy goes, nothing works better than letting your work speak for itself through the eyes of your customers. If you focus on delivering a great product that is consistent and if you are a good employer that looks after your staff well, these two factors together help to bring a rewarding experience to guests and that’s the winning combination.’
There are specific challenges in being a disruptor and an innovator. Entrepreneurs in staking their ground and creating their niche often come up against backlash, both personal and professional.
‘I feel once you are in a position of influence in the public eye, the battle of opinion is inevitable’, says Melissa. ‘Any social media entrepreneur would find challenges in a largely low-regulated domain online with the burst of social media applications such as Instagram, Facebook and even Twitter.’
Melissa comments that an entrepreneur is a person with vision, and this means being focused on the big picture, innovating and transforming oneself personally, and not restricting oneself out of laziness, ignorance or fear.
