Adebunmi Philips-Ojo is the founder and executive director of Lola’s Drinks. Her start-up is a healthy brand focused on healthy living using fresh fruits and nuts to produce nutritious drinks for health-conscious Nigerians.
Adebunmi, a graduate of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from the Lagos State University, started her journey as an entrepreneur in 2019 after resigning from her paid job to pursue her lifelong dream of having a business.
Inspired by the desire to promote healthy living via nutritious drinks and by her mother-in-law who was already running a similar business at that time on a small scale, she established Lola’s Drinks in 2019.
“Lola’s Drinks was borne out of the desire to promote healthy living through nutritious drinks,” she says.
“We have various indigenous fruits and nuts that can compete favourably with carbonated drinks but we have not adequately harnessed these ingredients with health benefits,” she explains.
The young entrepreneur says she started the business with N200, 000 and the money was spent on registration and procurement of equipment needed for production.
The money was raised from her savings and since launching the business has grown steadily as its client base keeps growing.
“Since we launched out, it was like the world has been waiting for us to launch. We instantly got massive sales,” she says.
“We thought it would take a long while for acceptance but the business has grown in leaps and bounds. We now embark on production at least three times a week to meet up demands,” she adds.
She notes that its unique recipe and packaging have made her product stand out despite the Nigerian market is saturated with various nutritious drinks.
“Our recipe is our distinguishing factor,” she says. The business currently has five full-time employees.
She notes that her business was not negatively impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak as its sales were steadily increasing during the period.
According to her, Lola’s Drinks had to launch two products during the heat of the pandemic to ensure the affordability of its products to all Nigerians irrespective of their status.
In evaluating Nigeria’s juice industry, she says the industry is still evolving with high economic potential when opportunities in home-grown flavours are adequately harnessed.
“People are attracted to Chinese or Indian cuisine because it is home-grown and different. When it is indigenous and done well, it attracts global attention and investments,” she says.
“The zobo can also become a drink that will be served in bars across the globe when we promote it,” she explains.
Speaking on some of the business expansion plans, she says it plans to acquire land and build a factory to expand its production in the long run and to kick-start the production of zobo wine in the short run.
“We are also planning to export the zobo drink to other African countries soonest. We have our sights on promoting the first zobo wine in Nigeria,” she says.
“We are hoping that we can partner with research institutes in the country to improve the research in zobo drink production,” she adds.
When asked what her biggest challenge is, Adebunmi states that the consistent rise in the prices of raw materials on a weekly basis is a major challenge confronting her business.
Also, she notes that the weak distribution channel is another challenge limiting her business.
She urges the government to address the accelerating inflation in the country and huge infrastructural gaps hindering businesses and industrialisation.
On her advice to other entrepreneurs, she says “always put value first before profit. When the value is in a product, the pricing would not matter and profit would come.”
“Entrepreneurship is a step by step process and as such, it should not be rushed. Once it is rushed, then failure is inevitable. Always have a clear roadmap on how you want to achieve success with your business. Others can take the roadmap and run with it when you are not there,” she advises.
