Olawunmi Fakoya is an experienced Chief Operating Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the Food Production industry and a dynamic Food Technologist who has built a reputation for delivering exceptional services and has driven innovation across businesses through strategic and solid execution. Her enterprise, JDP Global Foods, bridges the gap by manufacturing foods that are natural and safe for human consumption.
She is a visionary Leader equipped with robust experience over the years in delivering optimal results and business value in high-growth environments and establishing key relationships with businesses globally. Well-versed and with a consistent record of successfully employing best business practices that improve efficiency and reduce operating costs while increasing productivity.
Olawunmi was recently recognized as one of the top 50 remarkable founders of MSME Africa to celebrate this year’s world Entrepreneur day and we had a chat we her, here’s the excerpt;
What inspired you to start JDP Global?
My inspiration was born out of these two things;
Born out of the fact that my husband is a lover of pap and/or akara. It is quite stressful and time-consuming to go through the stress of soaking beans, peeling, washing, and milling beans before finally going on to fry them into Akara or steam them into Moimoi. The whole process takes nothing less than 90 minutes.
For pap, preserving it was the issue; most times, it is preserved in water, and one has to change the water daily for good hygiene. Most times, I forget to change the water for close to 3 days, and then it becomes an issue.
The other option for pap preservation is to keep it frozen, in which case you have to wait for hours for thawing before you can prepare, except if you have already decided to take pap hours before that time and you have removed it from the freezer for thawing. In most cases, I also don’t remember to do that, and I would then have to wait for at least 60 minutes before dipping into the water.
So, I set out to work as a Food Technologist. I did research on how best to preserve them while still maintaining the nutrients and colour without chemical additives or preservatives. Eureka! I came up with bean flour that is so fluffy, white, and non-smelly and powdered pap that is rich in colour, tart, and also non-smelly, Due to the processing method employed, these both re-absorb water with ease when reconstituted.
Also, for my convenience foods like Agonyin spice, dry veggies – Ewedu flakes, dry Ugwu, dried butter leaves, and dried scent leaves, production was born out of an experience I had while in paid employment. I got back home one day from my 7-7 job, totally fagged out and famished, and decided to start my own enterprise.
How do you ensure food safety and quality control within your manufacturing processes?
Hmm….As a Food Technologist and someone who has worked in the Quality Assurance department of Promasidor Nig Ltd. as a Food Quality inspector and Auditor for 7 years, I’m expected to know my onions well.
At JDP, we ensure quality is maintained by providing a comprehensive list of ingredient specifications, and an approved Supplier list, keeping track of daily maintenance logs, ensuring product weight and temperature, and observing other basic Good Manufacturing Practices.
As the COO, how do you improve efficiency and reduce costs while maintaining a high-quality product?
Often, I renegotiate with our suppliers for a reduction in price while increasing the quantity purchased. Sometimes, we go all out to source new suppliers to see if this will make the old ones change their minds, and most times, it works. This way, we cut down on transportation fees and the cost of production.
Also, we try to cut off middlemen to further reduce the cost of production. In the case of label production, we have been employing the services of a middleman, but lately, after the fuel increase, we cut off middlemen and started producing labels ourselves. The next move will be to get a printing press ourselves, by the grace of God. We will also turn this into another stream of income by printing for other up-and-coming companies as well.
What challenges have you faced in scaling the business, and how did you overcome them?
Hmm, the challenge of scaling up I remember when I first got an LPO to start supplying one of our biggest vendor stores. With about 14 chains then, I didn’t have the money to scale up to meet the demand. I went to my bank, but I was denied. Thank God for the family and friends that came to my rescue. They borrowed me money without any interest, which I used and paid back as soon as promised, within a month.
Going further into the upscale, I needed more money, so I had to look for investors on my business platforms, promising an ROI of 8% monthly. One of my friends that saw the ROI I proposed called and told me, “Wunmi, are you sane at all? This ROI is too high; please reverse it and tell the investor you are terminating it,” but I refused because I needed the money to scale up. Then, before the 4th ROI was paid, the investor called to inform me that he was willing to increase the investment if I still needed more, but I turned it down because I don’t want to borrow money that I don’t have a plan for, and it will start counting from the moment I collect it. I told him I would inform him when I needed him to increase his investment. In all, I got 4 investors with an 8% monthly ROI, and by the grace of God, I was able to pay them all back in due course.
After I finished paying that off, I got another, but with a 4% ROI until the company attained break-even.
What advice would you give to other women entrepreneurs looking to start a food manufacturing business?
To women who are looking to start a food manufacturing business, I encourage them to take the bold step. Food preparation/manufacturing is what women are naturally wired to do, so turning that into a stream of income should not be a big deal or a herculean task. I remember when one of my customers called in to ask if I could help him cook fish soup and ewedu because his kids were coming home from school. I was like, Sure! I could do that naw, even though it’s not part of the services I render. It’s like my husband wanted to pay me for cooking at home. I will do what I know how to do every day and then get paid for doing that. When that same customer called to ask me one day if I could cook fried rice and chicken, my third son was listening, and he asked, “Mummy, but why can’t this man cook by himself?” I answered, How will I make money if everybody knows how to cook? To date, I still do the cooking and send by dispatch alongside my processing business.
The only other things women who desire to go into business need in their journey are doggedness, resilience, and integrity, which are very key.
What are your goals for the company’s future growth and impact beyond just profitability?
My goals for the company’s future growth are to be one of the key players in the food processing industry in the areas of Contract manufacturing and white labeling, helping up-and-coming foodpreneurs kick-start their businesses and enhancing their quick access into the market by reason of our brand name, which should have been a household name, and the quality of her products.
To earmark a certain percentage of the company’s profit to charity – Orphanages, out-of-school children, and widows.
