In September 2007, things became quite challenging for me and I was almost getting to the point of frustration as a result of my inability to identify what I really wanted for myself. 

The turnaround actually started when with my last One thousand Naira.  I went to the market and bought ingredients for moinmoin with the intent of preparing my family a meal.  Co-incidentally, my sister in-law paid my family a visit that night and had a taste. Immediately, she insisted that I must include moin-moin in her menu, that's how it all started and her I am today. I had no financial weight at all. 

Expectedly as mentioned earlier, my initial buyers were family members, close relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbours. I hyped on the fact that most eateries sold moinmoin in tins, plastics or foils, and so I would let people know mine came in leaves, and more nutritious.  I sell in dozens.

No sooner had people started patronizing my moin-moin than they also began to request that I make other delicacies, such as variety of soups, stews, meals, etc, especially the very traditional ones.  I never turned down any order.

At this stage, I had gotten a name for my outfit and was in the process of registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission- No Left Overs ( www.noleft-overs.com)

THE INITIAL N1000 HAD GROWN TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF NAIRA!  I knew I needed to acquire business skills at this time to enable me take the business to the next level. I was fortunate enough to be admitted for a scholarship programme at the Lagos Business School under the Certificate in Entreprenural Management programme, sponsored by Goldman Sachs Inc. under the umbrella of the 10,000 Women Programme.   I went on the programme for a period of six months.  I could see from the first day I walked into class that I was surrounded by women just like me.  We all had the drive and the ambition, but had never had the opportunity to learn about business.  Through our courses, we learned the practical skills we needed. Now we can cater for hundreds of people at the same time.

As a result of the profound success of the business, regardless of the unlikely beginning I had, the Goldman Sachs Group invited me to New York to share my success story at the Annual General Meeting on the 14th of April 2009.  Again in September 2009, I was invited by President Bill Clinton for the Clinton Global Initiative 2009.  This was because the initiative was as part of its programme for the year focusing attention on empowering women in developing countries.  I therefore had the rare privilege of sharing my success story with participants at the programme.

We have two outlets, one in Gbagada and the other in Ikoyi.  We place emphasis on the nutritional value of the meals we serve

For more on the Internationally accalimed 'Moi-moin ( Bean Cake Maker, go to www.noleft-overs.com

@Delight,
so blessed by ur entrepreneurial drive and aslo as an entrepreneur myself i cld relate with your humble beginning . just hope other ladies/gals wl take a leaf from ds. dont mind if u can email me from my profile on nairaland. keep the fire burning!
cheers

Inspiring indeed. Keep it up!

Inspiring.

@delight
pls kindly resend the mail to xtristolink@gmail.com

cheers

Okay