A Woman With A Dream Come True
Meet Tichafara Masakadza. We met at Gokomere where I did Form 1 and 2. Ticha currently resides in the USA in North Carolina. I particularly want to share her story about how she became a business owner and am positive the story will inspire others who may be afraid to transform their dreams into action. Ticha has a tea and pastry business called Ticha’s Tea.
She was largely inspired by her maternal grandfather who used to be a chef at a restaurant. He was very good at making great and tasty puff pastries. Each time he would visit, he would teach Ticha how to bake and make pastries. This is how she developed interest in baking because she also got time to spend quality time with her grandfather. Ticha’s father also loved tea and she would go out of her way to make sure he had quality tea with some pastries. Although the father would complain to his friends that his electricity bill went up because of Ticha’s love for baking, he still appreciated the pastries. These two men (who are now late) planted a seed for her to start a tea and pastry business, and now she can carry on her grandfather’s legacy using his recipes. While she harboured this business idea for years, it was only last year that she started Ticha’s Tea. This was after she had gone for an afternoon tea with her mum and mum-in-law at a certain restaurant sometime in 2019. As they were enjoying their tea, she then noticed that their conversations were not private because whatever they were discussing could be heard by people at the next table and vice versa. So she thought how about if people can enjoy the ambiance of afternoon tea in private. She then told her two mums that she had thought of bringing afternoon tea to people instead of them going to public settings. So she officially started Ticha’s Tea on 1 January 2020.
Covid-19 affected Ticha’s Tea because the events she was meant to host in April 2020 were cancelled following lockdown restrictions. She had to adapt and face the challenge head on and thought of delivering boxes of pastries to people’s houses. She calls the service Afternoon Tea to-go-box. When she placed an advert for this service, she got overwhelming responses from clients such that she was struggling to meet the demand. She has managed to keep her business afloat and continue getting an income at a time when others have lost jobs or their businesses closed down. So for those who are hesitant to start businesses, Ticha says JUST GO FOR IT. You won’t know what will happen until you try it. So I celebrate Ticha for turning her passion into a lucrative business in the middle of a crisis.
Besides the business side of Ticha, she is also a generous human. Ticha may not have her own Trust or charitable organisation but she is a philanthropist who has always extended her hands to those in need. We have been privileged to be beneficiaries of her generosity because she has supported us to buy sanitary pads for girls in rural schools. She has supported many other charitable causes. She is also thinking of setting up a revolving fund to support women who are in need of a financial boost to start small businesses. Her desire is to see those who have started successful businesses supporting other women who also want to start businesses.
Ticha, you are a great source of inspiration for me. As I have told you before, I see you opening a bakery shop as you expand Ticha’s Tea.
Please help me celebrate Ticha for her steps. You can also visit and like Ticha’s Tea Facebook page:
