By Linus Akomolafe and Olajumoke Fakomi
“I started selling on gutter then to shop at the other street in Samuel Awoniyi before moving here in Igbesan Street on a low key. I have four graduates and I got them all from this business. We eat morning, afternoon and night here. I thank God for giving me the power and life to train them.”
As Mrs.Charity Nzeji, owner of Mama Oyinbo Food Canteen, recalled her 30 years experience in the food business to IkejaBird, she said her success story can best be told by her children.
On October 15, IkejaBird visited small-scale and medium enterprises (SMEs) within Opebi, Ikeja. Just across the street in Igbesan, was Mama Oyinbo’s second daughter, Elizabeth Nzeji, slicing vegetable leaves and dishing meals to customers. One of the customers was seen, saying “na small food be this, na small food. She don wicked me,” with a loud voice, while Elizabeth was pleading with the customer to accept the quantity she had given him.
Narrating how her mum began the canteen, she said, “This isn’t my business, it belongs to my mother and she has been doing this for 30 years. She trained four of us in school and it has not been easy but we have been trying. She loves cooking and we have customers who have patronised us constantly within the last 30 years.”
Elizabeth, a graduate of Business Administration from Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo State, who is on a job hunt, revealed that she has the time to assist her mother because she doesn’t have a job and there are few workers at the canteen.
“I have to help her because she has little assistance. We used to have three workers but it’s only one now.”
In terms of patronage, she said, “About five years ago, a bag of rice was N5, 000 now it is N28, 000 but the patronage is still high. Although customers complain of quantity, they understand that the country is hard, it’s what we buy that we sell.”
“Although customers can be annoying but they are always right, you just need to be jovial and free with them and add more rice, if they complain that the rice is too small.”
In terms of sexual harassment, she said she has always been assertive and that it was as a result of her previous experience.
Mama Oyinbo recounted her journey as a food vendor, “I began selling orange then yam before selling food. The person cooking beside me travelled and when her customers came to request food, I’d tell them she wasn’t around. One day, my spirit pushed me to cook some food in her absence. I prepared three Derica of rice and before 12pm, I sold all. The next day, I added two more making it five derica and I also sold all before 12 p.m. I kept adding until it got to a bag, that was how I started the business fully.
Mama Oyinbo explained that she was able to pay the school fees of her children through a daily contribution of N1, 000.
“From what I generate daily, I save N1,000 for my upkeep, N1,000 for shop rent and N500 for my children just in case they call from school that they need money. I also do daily contribution which I collect at the end of the month. I thank God, and this food I’m selling is really helpful, if you focus your mind with God and don’t use charm. Charms cannot help.”
“I get more than 50 customers per day, I used to cook one bag of rice every day and big porridge with big pots. I cook Eba, fufu, egusi, ogbono, semo, jollof rice and white, plantain, beans.”
She talked about managing her impatient customers, “I know how to handle them, even mad people, I don’t look at their faces, I just serve them and leave.
The hike in the cost of goods has affected how she runs her canteen. “When I explain to customers, they’ll say their salaries have not increased, there’s nothing we can do but reduce the food quantity so the customers don’t leave.”
