Member of the Month: Moyin Odeniran

Congratulations to our Member of the Month for September, founder of Mr Desserts, Moyin Odeniran.

Moyin started his business when he was just 14 years old. He says:

"Baking has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. What started as a hobby quickly turned into a full-blown obsession — one that I’m lucky enough to now call my business."

Browsing Mr Desserts' social media, it's hard to believe that the first-ever cake Moyin made for his grandma's birthday was "absolutely terrible". But practice makes perfect.

Six years later, his bakes not only look like works of art but taste just as good (the Enterprise Nation team can testify to this!).

He tells us about the challenges he faces as a young entrepreneur and the most important lesson he learnt about knowing your value.

How did the idea for the business come about? 

Entrepreneurship was in my blood because both my parents have their own businesses but that's not the reason Mr Desserts came about. 

I always enjoyed baking and cooking with my mother and sister since I was younger. I then started baking by myself and even asked my mother for a stand mixer for Christmas. 

In July 2018, my auntie came to my house, and I was making macarons at the time. She suggested I start an Instagram page for my bakes. I started taking pictures and sharing them on social media. However, when I started, I didn't intend to sell anything. 

Another auntie caught wind of how much I loved baking and knew of a cafe that wanted some cupcakes, cookies and brownies. She suggested I go to the council and get registered and my food hygiene sorted so I could start supplying to the cafe. 

That got the ball rolling. I was 14 at the time and not doing much but I enjoyed baking. It wasn’t a lot of money, £75 a week, but to a 14-year-old, I was rich.   

How did you get started and what challenges did you face? 

I really wanted to learn how to decorate cakes, that's one thing I couldn't do. I could bake at the time, but I couldn't decorate cakes. The first cake I made was my grandma's birthday cake and it looked absolutely terrible. While everyone was encouraging, my sister was the only person who was honest about it.  

I started doing more cakes for my family and got better at it. I put my bakes on social media and my family would support me by buying them for birthdays and other occasions.  

I watched a lot of YouTube videos and practised decorating and got better at it. As for baking, I stopped using recipes and started making my own to see how different ingredients worked.   

Eventually, I grasped an understanding of the ingredients. Even today, I have a book about the science of baking that I refer to when I am confused.  

One of the biggest challenges when setting up the business was my age. There were a lot of things that I could not do. For example, we did incorporate a company when I was 14, but we had to make my mother the director because obviously, I could not be one.

As for the food hygiene rating, I did all the courses but when the inspector came over, my mother was there too. She has been a massive help, especially when I was younger because there were so many things I could not do. 

On the other side, because I was so young, people didn’t know how to deal with me and some even tried to take advantage of the situation. One restaurant that I wanted to supply to tried to underpay so much that it would not even cover the cost of ingredients. 

As I got older, I learnt that just because I am young, I can’t let people take advantage of me and I know the value of my products and time.

How do you value/price your offering? 

It isn’t just me, in the cake industry in general, pricing is a big thing. There is so much range on how much people charge for the same product type.  

Some people will compare my prices to someone who is at the cheaper end but they are two different products. A Range Rover and a Ford Fiesta aren’t the same.  

I always push quality as my explanation for the price. I wouldn't be comfortable charging the price that I do if the quality wasn’t there.  

As I got older, my prices were probably three times more than when I started, but then again, I have gotten better, use better ingredients and there is also inflation to factor in.

Also, when it comes to recipe testing, on occasion, I will sometimes go as far as testing it 25 times until it's in the position it needs to be. Because I'm so particular and strict with myself, I'm a lot more comfortable with my prices.  

Another is knowing the value of your time. One of the biggest things in baking, apart from the ingredients, is your time. At the end of the day, if you're not going to charge the price that it’s worth, you might as well work another job. Now that I've started university, I've become more aware of it.  

How do you balance university and your side hustle?  

It isn’t as bad as it sounds. Yes, political economics is a tough degree, but it is only six months of the year. So, I don’t have any exams, no lectures, no seminars, but once term starts it does get a bit more stressful. During these times, I take on fewer orders.  

I restructured things a bit more and had to increase my prices as I had to take on fewer orders because my time was more valued.  

I also started to do markets, which has been great because I bake in bulk and sell them individually. It has made me plan better so I don’t have to rely on customer orders coming through. From one market, I can make the equivalent of like 8 to 10 customer orders. Markets have made my life a lot easier and I really enjoy them too.  

What’s next for Mr Desserts? 

When I finish university, I want to make it my full-time career. During term time, I ease off orders but focus on brand building.  

I am trying to save some money from my orders and raise capital so I can eventually get a commercial kitchen or a storefront.  

In the short term, I want to make cookie postal boxes. I didn't have cookies on my menu until March this year and introduced them at the markets. They're always the most popular and sell out the first. That is the direction I need to go once I sort out the logistics and packaging.  

Any advice on building an engaged social media following? 

When I started posting as Mr Desserts, I was really reserved, monotone and boring. My sister called me out, asking why I was talking like that and advised that I should just be myself.  

Once I started pretending that I was speaking to my friends, it was much more relaxed, easier and natural. People prefer it when they can see someone's personality, rather than just being boring. They want to know the person behind the brand. 

The biggest one I would say is being consistent and keeping at it, even if it is posting two or three times a week. Without consistency, you're not going to go anywhere.

When I started nothing really happened for the first six months but I stuck with it and posted more, and my videos got better.  

When did you first become aware of Enterprise Nation? 

It was through an Instagram ad about two years ago and I started following the platform on social media. I first engaged with the Enterprise Nation fund. It was the first grant I ever applied for, so I never thought I was going to get anywhere but I made it to the final three. 

I also went to the StartUp Show and met so many other entrepreneurs. I want to focus on brand building and saw Kiki Bhaur speak at the show. I still get newsletters from him that are very helpful.  

I love the Lunch and Learns. I saw a recent one with Emma Jones and Annabel Lui of Cutter & Squidge, that was very helpful.  

Watch this webinar to know how Annabel Lui, co-founder of bakery brand, Cutter & Squidge, grew the business from farmers market to a bakery and store:

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