MEA | African Excellence Awards 2025 22 Jul23190 May25103 Best Cookie Bakery 2025 – Cape Town & Community Empowerment Excellence Award 2025 Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Khayelitsha Cookies has spent the past two decades as one of South Africa’s leading social enterprises, empowering women through sustainable job creation and teaching them the skills they need to thrive. Thus, the company does much more than just produce tens of thousands of baked goods per day – including its signature hand-baked cookies – it changes lives and builds stronger communities. We spoke with Adri Willaims, the visionary behind the operation, to learn more about the life-changing impact it is having on so many. Hailing from a corporate background but often feeling unfilled in her career, Adri Williams’ inspiration for Khayelitsha Cookies began when she met a malnourished baby whilst visiting a local hospital as part of her church programme. Over time, Adri watched as the baby began to gain more strength and blossom into a healthy child. Watching this transformation made Adri want to do the same, and she began her social campaign by focusing on the unemployed women in the namesake town behind the Khayelitsha Cookies name. To do this, Adri bought what was then a struggling cooking business, turning its fortunes around and growing it into to an operation that is today more than 100-people (mostly women) strong. Across this team, many people have a limited education, so Adri and the more senior members deliver training through a combination of visual aids and first-language instruction. A strong work-life balance is also promoted through an incentive programme that allows workers to leave early once their targets are met. “Most of the women we employ have never worked before. This is their first job, and one we teach them with pride. We also run the business like a small, familyowned operation, and staff share in the profits with a 30% shareholding.” As for what exactly they are taught, employees have the opportunity to try their hand at everything from the baking itself through to quality control and finance. Not only does this ease local unemployment figures and provide women with a sense of dignity, but it also allows them to provide for their children and other family members that may be reliant on them. This sense of meaningful employment is at the heart of the company, and it is from this foundation that Khayelitsha Cookies has gone international. Creating more than 80,000 baked goods a day, Khayelitsha Cookies prides itself on keeping the entire process as manual as possible, creating as many job opportunities as it can in the process. On the back of the sheer quantity of products it produces, the company has fostered partnerships with major retailers such as Clicks and Shoprite in South Africa, as well as entered into global markets through the You Cookie Company brand in the US – which sees its high-quality baked goods delivered straight to customer doors. Despite its worldwide reach, Khayelitsha Cookies prides itself on sourcing 100% of its ingredients from local suppliers in South Africa, supporting the region’s agricultural output all whilst reducing the impact it has on the environment. This is just the beginning of the impact initiatives delivered by the company, which have included working with a local radio station to raise money to purchase animal feed for farmers during a drought and encouraging fishermen to donate fish to local soup kitchens during COVID. The latest initiative spearheaded by the company is a fundraiser to help it purchase farmland in Duynefontein, creating farming opportunities for the area’s unemployed youth. Farming will be completed using planter boxes and sustainable techniques, reducing water usage by as much as 80% compared to traditional methods. Since Khayelitsha Cookies has low profit margins as a result of its nature as a social enterprise, the success of this project hinges on donations, which Adri tells us are essential in fostering change. Adri explained: “Due to our net profit being below 1%, we are seen as too high a risk for an investment by loan providers. This is why we desperately need angel funders via our online campaign, which will be done on our You Cookie Company website.” Ultimately, Khayelitsha Cookies’ secret ingredient is love, which gives its hand-baked cookies the edge. Beyond being in its goods, love is also key to the great work being done by Adri Williams and the team more generally, and this principle continues to guide them as they move ahead with their aforementioned sustainable farming project. Recognised with a duo of well-deserved titles in our African Excellence Awards 2025, Khayelitsha Cookies is a beacon of inspiration for women-led social led enterprises, and we ask our readers to consider donating to its causes if they can. Contact: Adri Williams Company: Khayelitsha Cookies Web Address: https://kcco.co.za/
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