#WomanOnTop: Durban entrepreneur stands out among Shoprite suppliers

Listen to Leanne Hansmann in this week's #WomanOnTop feature, or read below:

The Little Cake Company shares the award, presented at a gala event in Cape Town, with Lesotho-based business MG Commodities.

“I am honoured and so thankful to Shoprite for taking a step of faith and supporting my business. Thank you also to my team who makes all of this possible,” says Leanne in reaction to her win.

She started the business in 2010 when, as a stay-at-home mom, she faced the prospect of being her two children’s sole provider, following the tragic passing of her husband. 

“I had to do something to earn an income. I either had to take a job, or start my own business and while running my own business seemed very risky, I knew it would give me an opportunity to spend more time with my children, who really needed me after my husband died,” explains Leanne.

Leanne was a good baker, so she established The Little Cake Company in Glen Anil, Durban. Initially she supplied shops in and around Durban, and shortly after she met the Group’s divisional buyers at the Good Food and Wine Show in 2015, she started supplying Checkers stores in KwaZulu-Natal.

“We didn’t know much about retail, but the Shoprite team in Durban really helped us. Buyer Dan Govender took us under his wing and helped us throughout the process of becoming a supplier and he still continues to help us today,” says Leanne.

The Little Cake Company supplies cakes and cupcakes under its own brand and under one of the Group’s private label brands. When Leanne had started her company, they made deliveries directly to shops, but since becoming a private label supplier, she now delivers to the Group’s distribution centre in Canelands, KwaZulu-Natal.

One of the core aspects of The Little Cake Company is that they are dedicated to helping women and all their employees are from informal settlements near Glen Anil. “We hire women who have no skills, no experience and have never been employed before, and we do this so that we can train them and give them a chance.”

“A lot of our ladies are also single mothers, who have no other means of taking care of their families, so we take pride in the fact that we can help them. Of course, taking this approach means that we have to be very patient with the people we hire and sometimes, we’ll take them on and train them so that they can find jobs elsewhere.”

Leanne is grateful for the opportunities that the Shoprite Group has given her because she’s doing what she loves and her business also helps her to uplift and empower the women in her community.

“Shoprite gives small businesses a chance and that’s so important because we’re the ones creating jobs and helping our economy to grow.”