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Posted: Wed 12th Aug 2026
Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.
This series explores the practical steps small businesses can take to grow and thrive – from improving energy efficiency and embracing sustainability to creating a lasting impact in their local communities.
In this episode of the series, we're joined by Dee Omole, founder of Dee's Basement, a confectionery studio specialising in nostalgia-inspired cakes and desserts.
Dee shares how a final-year university project at the University of Westminster became the foundation for Dee's Basement.
She turned a pandemic‑lost pastry job into a thriving, community‑driven DIY cookie and dessert brand by leveraging affordable pop‑up spaces, relentless social‑media engagement, and small‑batch creativity to grow sustainably while maintaining personal control over her work.
What began as postal cookies and hand-painted madeleines has grown into a business that counts Pinterest and Liberty London among its brand partners.
Dee talks about building a loyal community on social media, learning to spot brands that want free work in exchange for "exposure," expanding from a home kitchen to a commercial kitchen, and writing her first cookbook with Quadrille, an imprint of Penguin.
How Dee built an online following, partly through the extra visibility black-owned businesses gained during the Black Lives Matter movement
Winning brand partnerships with the likes of Pinterest and Liberty London by pitching ideas rather than simply offering catering
Learning to spot brands offering "exposure" instead of payment while going viral with 12 million TikTok views from a video of her washing a fake display cake
Running sold-out pop-up cafés in a neighbouring unit borrowed from her sister, and hosting small, intimate cake-decorating workshops
Writing and publishing her cookbook, A Little of What You Fancy, with Quadrille, which was built around small-batch recipes designed to reduce waste for beginner bakers
Learning to say no and protecting her wellbeing
You can also listen on other platforms and Enterprise Nation.
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