Renaye Tejani, a 12 Year Old Ismaili Girl in Mumbai Spreads Joy Through Baking for Charity

Prepared by Abdulmalik Merchant with the assistance of Rheanne Tejani

Few can resist the temptation of freshly baked goodies. They take you back to your childhood and bring a smile to your face. At an age where children are obsessed with the latest video game or phone 12 year old Renaye Tejani, an Ismaili girl from Mumbai, India, with her talent and love for baking is trying to spread this sweetness and joy a little further by baking for charity.

Renaye with her charity stall at an En Vogue exhibition at Taj Lands End Hotel, Mumbai.

Renaye used to watch her mum bake and got inspired by her. While helping her she realized she enjoyed baking and started experimenting with recipes. She then started sharing these bakes with her friends and neighbours who were so impressed with the results that they started paying her for them.

Like any other child her age Renaye was very thrilled as this would have been a great means of earning some extra pocket money, but she then remembered the local street children she used to see studying on the sidewalks near her home and thought about helping them with stationary packs and books. Thus, started Renaye Tejani’s endeavour of baking for charity.

Renaye’s bake sale

Renaye strongly believes that every child should have a right to education. Seeing the joy on the children’s faces motivated her to take this endeavour of hers more seriously. Since then she has used the proceeds of her baking for multiple charities ranging from orphanages, old people’s homes and even giving baking demos to other NGOs to add to new products to their sale catalogue.

SPREADING JOY AND SWEETNESS

Spending time with the elderly ladies on Mother’s Day at YWCA Asha Kiran, an NGO that strives to enable and empower women.

Gifts for the children at YWCA, giving them bags books and stationary

Feeding the children at Sneh Sadan, a home for the homeless at Andheri East

Renaye giving a demo at Kshitij, an NGO which helps make challenged children financially independent. Here she is teaching the children to make cookies which they would sell for corporate gifting.

Apart from her mom, Renaye gets her baking inspirations from cookery shows and books. She follows Cake Boss, The Ultimate Cake Off, and Nigella Lawson in addition to surfing the net for new recipes. Seeing her potential, a local business has also come forward to support this young Social Entrepreneur by featuring her customized desserts and cookies on their menu. Event management companies such as En Vogue support Renaye by showcasing her talent at their high profile exhibitions.

Signature dish.

Renaye (right) is pictured with her teenage sister, Rheanne, whom she counts as her official quality control and taste master as well as her packaging and marketing consultant. The twelve-year old takes a lot of pride in her older sister’s work, whom she considers as her pillar of strength.

This 7th grader burns of all her baking calories with swimming and volleyball and aspires to continue to spread joy with her baking and heading her own NGO one day.

Date posted: October 3, 2016.

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