The embodiment of both Black Excellence and Black Boy Joy, two Texas brothers are showing their entrepreneurial spirit and their hard work with their own bakery business, while also juggling school (including college-level classes), and still giving back to their community.
According to ABC13, Shane Mushambi, 13, and Nigel Mushambi, 12, of Missouri City are technically only in middle school, but they are the masterminds behind Two Bros. in the Kitchen, a business they started after winning a local baking competition three years in a row.
But their business is not just about making money for their delicious treats, it’s also about giving back to their community.
A simple look at their website shows you how deeply involved they are in making their community, and the world a better place.
“We partner up with non-profit organizations that provide meals for homeless, toys for children and funds for medical care,” one segment reads. “We are currently working with the J.B. Dondolo Foundation to raise funds for much-needed repairs to a hospital in Zimbabwe.”
“We know that life can be bitter sometimes. So, 2BrosITK are sprinkling a little bit of sweetness into the lives of unsuspecting individuals via our Pay-It-Forward Program. Our program is quite simple and ingenious at the same time,” another note on the website adds. “Customers simply buy an extra Cake In A Jar that we distribute randomly. Then, we ingeniously bless a charitable organization with a portion of the proceeds just like we do with all of our cakes in a jar. You may even get a mention when we post the picture of the recipient to our sites. It’s A Double Blessing!”
“We like giving back to the community because the community has given a lot to us,” Shane told the news station.
The dynamic duo has also donated hundreds of meals to the homeless.
And while they’re whipping it up in the kitchen, the brothers are also a force to be reckoned with in school. Both brothers love math and science, which they transfer to their love of baking.
“I like to bake because it’s a mix of art and a mix of science,” Shane said. “You need to know how acids react to bases.”
Shane, who is an eighth-grader, is already taking college-level math and engineering courses at Houston Community College, while Nigel, who’s in seventh grade, is scheduled to take a pre-calculus course in the fall.
You’d think that with their business, school work, and community service that the boys would stop there, but they are not quite done, yet. They recently published their first book, Beyond The Kitchen: How to Cook up Success with Life’s Mistakes, which is available on Amazon in paperback and via Kindle. They are also donating $1.00 to the JB Dondolo Foundation for every book sold.
“It’s about our failures that we’ve made in the kitchen and how we learned from them,” Nigel said of the book. “We just released our book last week.”
“It teaches how you don’t have to be perfect to succeed,” Shane added. “It’s okay to fail as long as you learn from it.”