‘Cooking is artistic and creative passion for me, beyond kitchen affairs’

Omowunmi Onisasun is the founder of the Onisasun enterprise, a chef/food service provider that has become one of the most sought after in the South-West. Speaking with Rotimi Ige, she tells Entrepreneurship+ about her journey into entrepreneurship, challenges and how youths can aspire to own successful businesses in Nigeria.

Can we meet you?

My name is Ikuerowo Omowumi popularly known as Mowumi Onisasun. While growing up, I attended Osua staff school, Ado Ekiti, and later proceeded to Christ Girls’ School, Ado Ekiti, attended University of Ado Ekiti, now Ekiti State University for my tertiary education.

What do you do at the moment? 

I am a food service provider and head chef at Onisasun Enterprise. I render restaurant service, culinary school, bakery, and other general catering services in the city of Ibadan.

Why cooking and other confectionaries rather than focusing on the artisanship of your study?

I figured that the only thing that keeps me going is doing something I really loved to do and not get tired. Cooking seems to be the only thing I do effortlessly and it challenges me. With cooking, you have to be artistic, creative, dimensional, inquisitive and skillful. With every type of cooking you get new experience each time, this I love so much.

How did you get into hospitality?

Growing up, I was always in charge of visitors, parties, welfare as a whole, when I got to university, my room was more like a family house and at no point did I get tired of doing the ‘mama for the boys duty’. Ability to cook only made the decision to be in hospitality industry easier. Because with hospitality, you have to put other people’s matter on your head (selfless) and always ready to pour yourself out, because that’s what keeps people coming back in turn and that keeps you in business.

What Challenges do you face as a pastry chef?

Well, they are not farfetched, very common that it drags the progress of the job

Staffing:  is a major problem. If only one can get another to interpret one’s brief. It will be very easy to run.

Price Inflation:  Prices of raw materials daily, increase, and it’s difficult to change prices of your product, so today you are on scale 3, tomorrow 7, next tomorrow 19. It makes it a bit difficult to run a business.

Electricity: This is the chairman of all times; the amount of money that goes into fueling is alarming.

Middlemen:  Commercial bread business requires distribution, but  unfortunately, the distributors are joy killers and if care is not taken, one might close shop completely. And if one wants to go without them, they will scatter your channels, so it’s really very difficult and discouraging.

What’s next for you?

Expansion and upgrading, there’s really no stopping at this point, the expectations of those who believe in the brand is a driving force. by the grace of God before the end of the first quarter, we intend to launch the rental services and consumables store department, with this, our raw materials will be cheaper making our products much more affordable and our catering service more premium. And also, we will be able to answer the reoccurring question of our customers about wanting to get the exact things we use for our products to achieve the results that keeps them coming back.

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