‘Just do it!’
Immaculate student sets sights on opening bakery
Published:Wednesday | May 3, 2023 | 12:22 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
A PANDEMIC hobby-turned-thriving enterprise is the hallmark of the story of Deboneil Brissett, a grade-13 student at Immaculate Conception High School.
Owner of Nuff Cookie, she specialises in an assortment of freshly baked cookies, ranging from smores, snickerdoodle, oreo birthday cake, cookies and cream and strawberry cheesecake.
“When COVID-19 hit Jamaica in 2020, I had a lot of free time on my hands, so I looked for recipes and baked stuff like banana bread and I tested out a lot of cookie recipes. I wasn’t going to school face-to-face, so I wasn’t getting lunch money and that was how I was usually able to buy stuff for myself or go out with my friends. I was getting really good at baking and I thought to myself that it is a way I can make money,” the teen recounted.
She began selling cookies within her community and then she had a sit-down with her parents to explain her vision and they offered their full support.
The 18-year-old told The Gleaner that she went on to create an Instagram page in the summer of 2020 which significantly grew her customer base, with inquiries coming from as far as Montego Bay.
She explained that because cookies can easily crumble, she has to create a “bullet proof plan” before offering deliveries outside of Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine.
“Along this entrepreneurial journey I have learnt patience. I expected that everybody would just love the cookies and make orders. It was a really slow start. I had two customers ordering cookies per week versus now when I have 50 customers weekly,” Brissett said.
She has also learnt patience during the baking process and when there were mishaps, she remained level-headed and worked on finding solutions in a timely manner.
“When I just started I had problems with delivery. I was using a bike-bearer and I had a lot of customers who complained that they received broken cookies. I switched to a car-bearer and that issue has been smoothed out,” she said.
Balancing books and baking was another hurdle for Brissett, who was determined to excel in her external examinations and hold her leadership positions at school.
She told The Gleaner that some times she burned the midnight oil, other times she cried, and she also had to request a little extra time to submit her school-based assessments.
Brissett secured four grade ones and four grade twos in her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.
The student was accepted to a university abroad, but has opted to stay in Jamaica to study and grow her business.
“The profit I am making now is towards opening a store. I want people to walk in and select their cookies from the display,” an enthusiastic Brissett said.
Come September, she will commence a Bachelor of Science degree in entrepreneurship at The University of the West Indies, Mona.
To young Jamaicans interested in becoming entrepreneurs, Brissett said, “Just do it! I felt like I was stepping out of my comfort zone and that’s something that many people don’t like doing. But that is where success begins.”