To go straight to the point, there is money to be made while plying your innovative trade in food business, even here in Nigeria. In a world of business enterprises driven by technology, especially digital platforms which are helping small businesses to grow exponentially, it has become a possibility to break boundaries and sell one’s products to millions of consumers all waiting for such.
A thrilling testament to that assertion has to do is that of Amoke Oge, a food vendor who started on a small scale but with the facilitating factors of self-belief, vision, passion, taking action when needed most and seeing the larger picture the former street vendor has taken her food business to the global stage. But how did it happen? That is the million – naira question. Yet, the answers are not far-fetched.
Small beginnings:
Amoke learnt how to cook delicious dishes from her mother, a food vendor in Araromi, Oyo state in her early days. Sequel to this she improved her cooking skills from her elder sister, Saudi Alamala, who was then a popular food vendor in Bariga, Lagos.
To expand her business horizon she started out by cooking at parties and social events. That was before owning her first shop located at Bawala in Pedro, Lagos in 2015. That was done out of sheer passion, as she keeps cooking different dishes even now as her own boss.
As date would have it she spent three odd years; from 2015-2018 before her business could expand. The subsequent five years, between 2018 and 2023 defined her business success as she opened five more branches. Currently, she has an additional store that is located in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Expanding her service delivery with digital platforms
Taking the bold steps forward by joining veritable food platforms such as Glovo and Chowdeck took her culinary expertise to greater heights. In fact, she became one of the first 100 food vendors to join Chowdeck, then a new food delivery space.
According to Femi Aluko, CEO and Co-founder of Chowdeck, Amoke was one of the first 100 restaurants, on the digital platform with the vision and mission statements to connect restaurants and eateries with their potential customers.
Lessons to learn
For Hajia Amoke Odukoya, to have achieved the feat of becoming the first woman to make over ₦2.3 billion in sales on Chowdeck, with over 500,000 deliveries there are lasting lessons to glean from her hands. These include the capacity to identify her God-given talents, believing in them, learning from the best including her mother and sisters and of course, constancy of purpose which Sam Walton, the American business icon refers to as the secret of success. Not left out are seeing possibilities where others waste precious time complaining. The other unfailing factor is delivering the best services to those who would cherish them.
For those interested Chowdeck is a food delivery app that connects customers to food vendors across several Nigerian cities. Vendors cook from their kitchens, while the riders pick them up and deliver the food to customers, as managed through the app across the mobile spectrum. A brilliant idea, is it not? Of course, it is.
Furthermore, it has become important for us all to realize the power of information technology, IT to propel our ventures not only in Nigeria but across the global space. The same way that Amazon platform has taken the books of writers so it has become possible to access customers from virtually anywhere in the world to give a taste of whatever goods and services we want to offer.
Eat the humble pie to learn from the best
Though she credits her sisters, Saudi Alamala and Ashabi Alamala, for being her dependable mentors, her own willingness to learn from them is highly commendable. If she was not humble enough to listen, learn and practicalize what she heard from them, perhaps, she would not have become the success story of today and a role model for the present and future generations to come.
Put yourself in her shoes and imagine that a once unknown street vendor gets to read that: “I Amoke Oge just became the first woman-led business to hit 500,000 deliveries on Chowdeck — with an average order value of N4,600. We’ll let you do the math. To mark the milestone, our CEO Femi Aluko (@femi_aluks) showed up in person to congratulate her.”
The lesson from this is that of never giving up on your dreams no matter the obstacles. With the power of passion, faith and an unwavering commitment to breathe life into them you will achieve them and more.
