Don’t despise small beginnings, FoodCo founder urges entrepreneurs
Launch
The founder of FoodCo Supermarkets, Mrs Sola Sun-Basorun, has charged Nigerian youths not to despise small beginnings, saying every enduring business starts modestly.
Sun-Basorun gave the charge on Thursday in Ibadan at the launch of her book titled “Courage to Start: The FoodCo Story”.
She said the book, which chronicles her journey, built on courage, diligence and resilience, seeks to inspire young people facing unemployment to embrace enterprise.
The author said the book compiled FoodCo’s experiences as shared by stakeholders, including suppliers, past and current staff members, contractors, supervisors and bankers.
Recounting her early challenges when she needed money to stock up, Sun-Basorun said she approached a bank for a loan, but when asked for collateral, she wondered what it meant.
She said it was the first time she heard the word “collateral”.
However, she said the bank eventually offered her N5,000 based on her salary, and with it, her business took off.
She described the experience as a lesson in starting small with limited resources.
She noted that starting a business means the business becomes the person’s boss, adding that failure does not make one a failure, but refusal to rise does.
The businesswoman urged readers to commit their ways to God, who, she said, teaches diligence and gives power to make wealth.
Mr Segun Oloketuyi, the occasion’s chairman and former Managing Director/CEO of Wema Bank, said FoodCo has continued to stand tall in a business environment where some multinationals could not survive.
Oloketuyi described the book as three-in-one.
“It’s a business book for entrepreneurs, a leadership book for mothers balancing family, career and business, and a history book for Ibadan, birthplace of one of the oldest indigenous supermarket brands,” he said.
He commended Sun-Basorun for the courage to document her small beginnings to motivate others and for building FoodCo into one of West Africa’s fastest-growing brands.
Earlier, the book publisher, Dr Kolade Mosuro of Mosuro Publishers, said books are meant to trigger conversations, provoke, inspire and educate.
He noted that the book tells stories of failures as much as successes.
The book reviewer, Mr Tunde Aiku, said the 207-page book, with 16 chapters, examines how the author survived a harsh business terrain after resigning as a librarian to pursue her entrepreneurial dream in 1985.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event drew family members, friends, and customers of the FoodCo brand.
It also featured goodwill messages and commendations for the author’s contributions to Nigeria’s retail business. (NAN)
