LÜDERITZ – Caroline van Wyk, 53, is a determined Namibian businesswoman who was born and bred in Lüderitz in the //Kharas Region.
Van Wyk – who wakes up at 04h00 each morning – lets nothing get in her way to achieve her dreams.
She owns a home-based bakery and catering business, known as Wienda’s Bread Bin.
She ventured into the business in 2006 with only three employees, but as her bakery grew she also employed more people.
In 2007 her business received a loan of N$120 000 from First National Bank (FNB) that enabled her to buy some equipment for her home-run business.
She has since repaid back the FNB loan.
Wienda ventured into the bakery business because she saw the need and the high demand for bread considering the fact that only three shops in Lüderitz owned bakeries and this greatly motivated her.
Currently she employs 14 people, whose benefits include free loaves of bread she gives them daily.
Currently her bakery bakes 600 loaves of bread in a day for her clients in Jackalsdraai, Old Location, Area 7 and Nautilus among other areas of Lüderitz.
“I started with less than 10 people, but the number of workers kept increasing day by day and I also do door-to-door deliveries,” narrated van Wyk.
Apart from baking bread, van Wyk is also known for her decadent cakes, scrumptious biscuits and she also prepares mouthwatering food for her clients.
Van Wyk runs a catering business that serves for parties and caters for weddings in Lüderitz.
Since her bakery business is based at her house, Van Wyk wants to expand her business and open up a restaurant opposite her house, which will maximise her profits as a business and alternatively create more job opportunities for local people.
But the Lüderitz Town Council wants her to pay for services which she cannot afford as an SME and among council’s demands is that she should pay N$246 000 for a new sewerage line which she says is prohibitive as it could financially drain her business.
She says many tourists flock to Lüderitz to explore and enjoy local delicacies, but there is a lack of restaurants that operate seven days in a week.
“Local restaurants only work from Monday to Saturday and they close on Sundays,” she said.
She says tourists want to experience the local life of Namibians and that is why she wants to expand her business and open a restaurant which will cater for these tourists and locals seven days a week.
Van Wyk encouraged other Namibians to stop asking for handouts and to get up and use their hands to do something productive and to rather give each other moral support.
Her philosophy is that one is never too old or too young to start up a business and that young people should stand up, instead frequenting clubs and messing up their lives with alcohol and drugs.
She says positivity will result in constructive ideas that will build and contribute to nation building.
“More importantly do not becomes a businessperson and forget about God,” she says.