Brand Spur Issue 4 - 4th Edition | Page 110

How this Nigerian started a food processing business with little capital Kasope Ladipo-Ajai (31) is the co-founder of OmoAlata Food Services, a company that processes and packages soups, spices and ‘peppers’ for flavouring local Nigerian dishes. Launched in 2012, the company supplies 25 retailers in Lagos – including the Spanish supermarket chain Dia – and just signed a contract to supply Spar stores. The goal is eventually to export to foreign markets. Ladipo-Ajai got the idea for starting the company while working for four years at Virgin Nigeria (a now defunct airline). During this time she often travelled to developed markets and would visit retailers that stocked Nigerian foods and flavours. She was surprised to discover, however, that many of these Nigerian Read more… spices and mixes were actually produced in Ghana.