“The first time I got paid for rendering a service was back in 2010. At the time, Fringe hairstyle was the in thing and I fixed it for an acquaintance. I was surprised when she came back shortly after I was done to give me money. The pay was little compared to what she would have paid any hairdresser but then, I was not expecting to get paid at all. It was like I got paid to have fun. That was when I knew I was going to keep rendering services. Fast forward to July 2015, I just passed out of NYSC and I did not get a job. At this point, I must say that I am that kind of person who can’t just stay idle.
So, when NYSC was over and I found myself staying at home for almost a month without a job, I had begun to itch for something to do. August 2015, I was running my Image Consultancy business in the smallest way possible I could. While I was doing that, I was on the look-out for an investor. In the alternative, I continued job hunting. I already had my business plan drawn out since 2013 but we all know finding capital (especially if you want to start big). It isn’t the easiest thing to do in this part of the world.
However, all along, I have always loved to cook. In my university days, I was the go-to girl for class and departmental get-togethers. Sometime in the middle of August, my sister wanted to prepare efo riro and I started begging her to allow me cook it for her. It was then that she said something like: “this one that you can cook for Africa, you better start making money off it”. That was it!
Up until that moment, I just never saw the business side of cooking. I started planning towards starting a call-to-order kitchen since I needed just a little capital to start that style of cooking enterprise. From my last NYSC allowance, I cooked different meals and dished them out for people to sample. I chose people who could, at least potentially, become my customers. I then drew up a Menu on a Microsoft Word and that was it. However, I had no business plan. I had no business name.
In my family, we eat moin-moin a lot so, cooking moin-moin is always a big and elaborate thing. It is like ‘community cooking’. One day, as August 2015 came to an end, my mum and I were in the kitchen for hours cooking our ‘community moin moin’ and then she suddenly said: “Èyí táa tiè to wà n’ìdí àrò yí látàárò…” Immediately I blurted, “Mummy, I just found my business name!” She didn’t understand what I meant so I explained to her that my business name would be Ìdí àrò.
At first, it sounded absurd to everyone around but for me, that name was gold. It really spoke to the core of my business. I wasn’t planning to go into any continental dish or over-stylized meals. I was specializing in our traditional meals and Idi Aro sounded perfect.
By September 2015, I opened social media pages for the business and my friend Kaycee P Okoronkwo designed my logo. Once all these were in place, I started publicity immediately. I then discovered about the time I started the Kitchen that I had a number of bachelor friends whose work did not give them a chance to cook. To cater for them, I began to cook in bowls and sell to them. They became my first demography of customers. Things were going good, then I began to get women too.
Married women whose jobs didn’t give them time to cook began to call to order bowls of food. Then new mothers who couldn’t resume kitchen duties immediately also joined in. It was just for home and office delivery and that was how slowly the business began to gain customers until I got my first small event in October 2015.
By February 2016, the scope of Idi Aro expanded. I had been doing small cooking in plate for people, It wasn’t something I did wide-scale and all was going fine. Then in February 2016, a friend called to place an order for 40 plates. It was after this order that I added catering at events to my scope of business. However, just as I was embracing the expansion process, something that I hadn’t intended happened.
I got an opportunity to start my Masters degree and I took it. I never wanted to do my Masters before but when the opportunity showed itself, I couldn’t turn it down. The Masters’ program took its toll on my business, it wore me out and so I wasn’t so aggressive about business as I would have been. Business dwindled, customers dropped and keeping up was a problem. February to August 2016 was not rosy at all. In fact, at some point, I was almost non-challant and almost closed shop.
September 2016, I began to attend the JCI meetings. What belonging to JCI Ibadan did for me was to provide me a community/network to which I could plug into and access customers I would never have been able to access if I was flying solo. This helped me to keep the faith that things would turn out fine. By December 2016, the Ibadan Countdown Festival was going to happen and part of the week-long event was the Food Festival held by Jeun, a food delivery business.
When I was told I’d have to book a stand for N10,000 I withdrew my interest. However, a friend who was into cocktails, chapman and drinks suggested that we took a stand together and so we did. The outing in December turned out to be fantastic. I sold out so quickly and there were people asking for more plates. Then I began to wish that I could go back home and cook some more food.
Let me share an experience with you. Sometime before July 2016, I got a call for an order – one plate of amala which had to be delivered to Akobo. That was such a big stress for me because I live right after NIHORT and so to go deliver a plate of amala in Akobo was just a big deal. It didn’t help matters that I had to do delivery myself. I took the order, prepared the meal and went by myself to deliver the meal.
When I called later to get a feedback, the man said the Efo riro had too much salt and then he went on to scold me, saying that the fact that one customer liked salt didn’t mean every customer would like salt and all that. I felt really pained because of how much effort I had put into cooking the meal and delivering it. To think that I barely made N400 from the order.
Two months later, the same guy called me to inform me that Africa Magic was starting a new show that was about young people doing businesses and that Idi Aro was being considered to be featured. I didn’t believe him. It seemed farfetched, almost like a scam. I reluctantly agreed and the crew came over to my house from where I cook. I made efo-riro for them and it was all recorded. Months passed and nothing happened. No program like that was even launched on Africa Magic. Me, I just carried on with my life.
Out of the blues, I got a call from the director whom I had met when the crew came over. He told me that the program was set to start and when I would be aired. That was how I ended on Africa Magic.
In my course of running Idi Aro, one strong lesson that has stayed with me is something from the JCI creed – that “the brotherhood of mankind transcends the brotherhood of nations.” Whatever you choose to do, network! Been plugged into a micro-community lifts you up. It is leverage. JCI has been that community for me. JCI gave me a wider network of people to whom I could pitch my business to and who could, sharpen my ideas with, encourage me when my knees buckle and I have been able to break into new markets through connections from JCI. Truth is, knowing people happens when you’re connected to a community.
Also, your personality as a business person goes a long way. If you’re the best in your industry but your attitude is terrible, it is your loss. In business, discipline is key. I have had opportunities that I did not expect, just because I run Idi-Aro Kitchen. I have catered for events I never thought I could handle and I still do my home and office delivery sometimes. I have come a long way from where I used to be and I have faith that this is only the beginning.”
[END]
