Fátima Suliman, a Mozambican entrepreneur turning a passion for cookie-making into a successful business — Lionesses of Africa

What inspired you to start your company?

Growing up I always enjoyed baking. I started to bake when I was 12. At the time, my aunt had a cake business and I used to always help her decorate. When I was 19 years old I decided to pursue my dream of baking and decided to take small orders, but I never realized I would go in a whole other direction. When I tried macarons for the first time I decided to bake them too, and when I saw the science behind baking just a single macaron it made me go after it even more. And the passion for French pastry just came naturally behind it.

Why should anyone use your service or product?

We always strive to make every order unique. And it becomes easier when you sell something almost no-one does. As we expand our business to specializing in French pastry we are looking forward to having new products and something different, so when people look for something unique they go straight to us.

Tell us a little about your team

There is me, Fátima Suliman, and I am the founder and CEO of Cookie world. I work alongside my sister, Sarah Suliman, who is my rock and always there for me, helping in every aspect possible. It’s safe to say that Sarah is an indispensable and very important member of our team.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

We started as something very small. We used to bake regular tea cookies. Then we had an amazing idea of making personalized bonbon cookies and it became famous almost instantly. We had orders every day. But when many people decided to make the same thing it was not unique anymore. It felt like fate when at the same time we tried macarons for the first time and it was amazing. And since it was something new here we decided to give it a go. But it was not so easy because the science behind it is pretty big. Maybe that pushed us even more to go for it. And after we nailed it, the passion for French pastry just came naturally. As for our love for sugar cookies that came a long time ago. We decided to explore that market even more because it was something new too here.  A long story short, we really like to bring new things and be unique. We do come from an entrepreneurial background but not in the same area.