With the rising popularity of businesses born through social media, more and more local entrepreneurs are finding opportunities that they otherwise would not with a more traditional business structure. This has allowed many local talented people to showcase the value and expertise through locally made goods and services. One such brand, which rose quickly over the past two years is PoPo’s Bakes.
 Pawani Neligama |
Created by Pawani Neligama, she successfully turned her passion for baking into an online business. In a brief interview with Youth Observer, Pawani shares the journey behind the brand.
Pawani outlined how her passion for baking and cooking in general was persistent since childhood, noting how she even used to bake her own birthday cakes. Though she had help from her mother, Pawani is largely a self-taught cook. With no formal training in cooking or baking, she taught herself by trying things out herself, by watching TV and YouTube. She said celebrity chefs such as Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and cooking shows such as Master Chef as sources of inspiration for her love of cooking.
Pawani, inspired by her interest in food, studied Food Technology. She said that while it did improve her cooking and baking somewhat, most of her knowledge came from teaching herself. Despite her interest in cooking she did not pursue it as a career at first, instead cooking and baking as a hobby. Initially just providing fruit juice for her colleagues, Pawani had the support of her closest friends and family to turn her passion into a business, Popo’s Bakes.
Launched officially in 2019, Popo’s Bakes gained a strong platform on social media as an online baking brand. Though requests came on the daily from return customers as well as companies on behalf of their employees, Pawani expressed that she did not take bulk order requests, priding herself on taking her time to create the best product possible.
Popo’s Bakes offers an assortment of sweets, savory items and juices with plans to expand into more variety. Pawani mentioned that her most requested items were her Chocolate cake and Passionfruit cake, which were especially popular with her many return clients. When asked what her favourite item to make was, Pawani expressed an interest in Cupcakes as its small size allowed her to add more detail and wished to experiment with it more in the future.
Speaking more on the future of Popo’s Bakes, Pawani said she hopes to branch out more into other kinds of food. She hopes to introduce a brand of breakfast packs as a division under Popo’s Bakes in the near future. As more people have less time for preparing breakfast, Pawani noted that there was a largely untapped market for breakfast packs that she wished to tap into.
Today, Pawani works out of her home kitchen and mostly works alone, but as Popo’s Bakes grows she hopes to get more people on board. She also hoped to increase the avenues of availability for her products such as by introducing them to retailers and bakeries. For now, Popo’s bakes is available exclusively on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
As an independent and self taught baker with a popular brand, Pawani had some advice to give for anyone looking to get started as one. She expressed how, though she is a self taught cook, you can only get so far without formal training. Though she herself has gotten this far and improved as much as she had, a formal education in cooking or baking can open up more opportunities for improvement. Pawani also talked about how anyone can bake if they love it and that it’s never too late to start doing what you love.
“The best way to describe PoPo’s is how we ensure nothing short of the best and consistent quality at affordable pricing. With this being a homegrown business supported by family and friends, we strongly believe in supporting other homegrown entrepreneurs to move and up the industry.
At PoPo’s the word “NO” is taboo, it’s “YES” to keep growing, expanding and more importantly YES to life :)”