To battle the boredom during lockdown, London woman Nazia Yasmin, 33, decided to try something brand new. She set herself the challenge of baking something new everyday, and it's safe to her new venture paid off as two years she has now opened her shop - Greedy Cow Bakes in Hackney Road, Hackney - has seen people queuing outside for hours, and her cakes selling in their thousands.

She has now signed a contract for a secondary kitchen at a different location because the one at her store isn’t big enough to meet the demand from customers. Nazia told MyLondon she is giddy with excitement but filled with shock and awe at the response to her bakery, from social media influencers to people in the local community who have come to support her business. “I really didn’t expect to be where I am right now,” she said.

Wanting to start off small and not move too far away from the area she lived in with her two young children, Nazia found a small unit in Hackney and decided to just give her business a go despite the daunting costs, she had income coming in from her collection orders. Nazia also said every penny she’s invested in the business has come from her, she hasn’t borrowed any money or taken out any loans.

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During the pandemic, after being encouraged by her family, Nazia built a small following on her Instagram. Post-Covid she worked with smaller orders from her kitchen before realising she needed a bigger space and renting the unit her bakery currently operates from.

While the bakery is only open three days a week, Friday to Sunday, Nazia, who does most of the baking herself including coming up with new recipes, says she spends the remainder of the week preparing for what ingredients she will need and doing business admin tasks that she is also very new to. While the bakery has been open for two months already, Nazia, who pays £1,800 for the unit she rents, moved into the space a year ago but only used the kitchen to fulfil collection orders.

Between regular customers Nazia had built in the post Covid period, when she was only doing collection, and the latest buzz, Nazia has been overwhelmed by the attention her bakery has received confessing. Impressively, just two months after opening her dedicated kitchen, she has already signed a contract for a larger kitchen because her current kitchen in the bakery wasn’t big enough to fulfil the orders she was receiving.

Speaking to MyLondon, she said: "We've had so many people come along to offer support. We've just been growing and growing and have seen so many influencers. Everyone from all communities has come and everybody around the area has just come here just to show the support and it's just been really nice.

“From baking in my tiny kitchen flat, I don’t even know how I did it, to taking pictures in my living room and engaging with the customers on Instagram and now two years later I have my own proper kitchen and real bakery.”

For the three days the bakery is open, Nazia employs seven members of staff who help her but still starts her days off around 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning each day the shop is open, baking everything from scratch with the ingredients she has purchased earlier in the week. She prides herself in handmaking every single pastry that will eventually be sold.

Nazia, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, said: “I feel like not a lot of people in our culture do this kind of thing [opening their own business]. And I understand why. It's not easy. It does pay off and you see the appreciation, love and support from everybody. When I see that I just feel like this is all worth it.”

When asked if she would encourage other Bangladeshi women into starting their own businesses, Nazia added: “Yes, of course. Oh my god 100 per cent. You know, I would just say go for it. If you have any doubts, put the doubts aside and just go for it, even if you start small, everybody starts small. It's not as if I knew everything. I haven't done any courses or anything like that. And as long as you put in 100 per cent then that will show in your work.”

Nazia said that although the business is her passion, it is a tough job. She said: “I don't get any breaks. I don't have any time for anything. Just constantly, constantly, I am working. It's draining, really draining but at the same time, because I enjoy it so much and I'm so passionate about what I do I just want to be the best, and whatever I do I want to put 100 per cent into it."

Discussing the cost of living and energy crisis, and very grateful her rent hasn’t been raised, Nazia told MyLondon: “As the cost of things have gone up, I’ve just have to deal with it cause I don’t want to cut corners in terms of ingredients and quality, I wouldn't allow alternatives. I won't compromise the quality of what I make and what my customers like.”

You can find out more about Nazia's business on the Greedy Cow Bakes Instagram page here

MyLondon is celebrating London's best independent shops, businesses and individuals who go out of their way to make things extra special.

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From Wimbledon to Walthamstow, Uxbridge to Upminster, and everywhere in between, the MyLondon team will be speaking to the small shop owners you love for going above and beyond.

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