Her story started 6 years ago when she started to work at the diplomate residence. She always loved cooking, so she was able to make good use of the boss’s kitchen. She would always be looking for the recipes on YouTube and try it out and soon figured out that things she tried, came out great.

She went to the cooking school just last year to improve her knowledge since she saw that her passion for cooking is paying out in the admiration of the people. More and more people started loving her cooking and her former boss asked her to go to school to improve her knowledge and obtain the papers to prove her knowledge. At that time, she was working and studying at the same time.

Her menu consists not only of Gambian foods but plenty of international snacks. She has learned what foreigners like because she has been working with them and been around them for quite some time. She knows which products would sell in different types of events, and she knows what to offer, to be different from the rest. She is good at marketing and targeting customers and this is what is making her progress on the way to her dream.

She is still working as a cook for a foreign family at the US embassy. Her dream is to have a big restaurant and big bakery but she still didn’t find the right place. She wants to have a big place like Cassy’s and then she will quit her job and start to follow her dream.

Her family is not connected with this type of business. She is learning the skills herself. All of her work is based on passion. She is having support from her husband, who is also trying to help her to establish her own business.

So, what will be special about her place? Her chocolate cake is a big hit. She did her training for three months at Butcher’s restaurant in Fajara and four months at Cassy’s to make sure, she was putting the best ingredients and techniques into the product. Fatou is sure, that her cake will bring a lot of people there since is one of the greatest cakes in The Gambia and everyone who tries it, comes back.

She aims high, up to the sky. In five years, she sees herself in her own restaurant and with kids.

Her advice to young entrepreneurs with big dreams and passion, especially women, who are afraid to start their own business is, to stay strong, focused and be themself and fight for what they want. “Don’t listen to anyone, stay positive, and avoid everything negative. Keep looking forward, fighting for the dream, and have the hope and faith that one day you will make it.”

When asked, what kind of a boss she will be, she answered with confidence: “I will be a nice boss, I will treat everyone right and equal”. She has a lot of experience with working with people since she was working with them from a young age. She is aware, that people are different and some of them you just cannot satisfy and she is also ready for that.

She is willing to share her knowledge and allow young people, especially young ladies. But for now, she is not able to share her knowledge, since she is working in her boss’s house, which is in the diplomate house, so no one is allowed to go there. But once she has her kitchen…

Since she doesn’t have her restaurant yet, she is doing a lot of catering for naming ceremonies and weddings, providing a wide range of food; from international, Senegal to the Gambian.

She promotes herself on WhatsApp through her status and in the group. When she will properly start her own business, she will also start promotion through her FB profile.

Her message to the world is: “Have faith because we all have dreams, keep on fighting for it, love ourselves and be honest to ourselves and always get whatever you want”.

She says that she will not stop until she has her own bakery and she is sure that everybody will know that this is Fatou’s restaurant. And what is her secret ingredient? Love.