Ikudehinbu Josephine is one of Nigeria’s energetic and hardworking young entrepreneurs. She is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Phinny’s Fruity. People call her a fruit juice expert because she produces diverse flavours of drinks from fresh fruits.
A holder of both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education from the University of Lagos, she started her business in December 2017 with N50,000 while undergoing her master’s degree programme.
Josephine was encouraged to start this business by her family and friends who she says saw the prospects of what she regarded as a hobby.
“I don’t like eating fruits so I prefer to produce juices and drink it while adding flavours,” she says.
“I made it for people and I was encouraged to commercialise it so I do not remain idle,” she adds.
Evaluating her business growth so far, the young entrepreneur says that the business has been good enough as she does home delivery in addition to the fruit juice business.
The entrepreneur believes her products are always unique because of the way she applies special ingredients. She gets her ingredients from major markets in Lagos such as Ketu, Mile 12, and Ojota, among others.
“I operate under a very clean environment to avoid the risk of making harmful products, given that my goods are consumables,” she says.
When asked about plans to expand her business, the entrepreneur says that she has a strong expansion vision.
“In the coming years, I hope to incorporate full catering and event management services, although this is a long-term goal,” she discloses.
“My short-term goal is to see the business boom and become the best at what it was established for, compared with other companies,” she says.
“Currently, I do not have any employee, but I look forward to getting a bigger place for production and sales and also becoming an employer of labour so as to reduce the rate of unemployed youths in my own little way,” she adds.
Josephine is working on acquiring certificates and attending trainings to gain more knowledge and expertise that will help her business to grow.
Speaking on some of the major challenges confronting her business, she complains about poor electricity supply, lack of necessary equipment and inability to access loans and funds for expansion purposes.
She urges the government to ease the business environment, especially for small and medium scale enterprises. She also wants the authorities to make policies that will support start-ups, while calling on the government to provide stable electricity and necessary infrastructure for effective and easy production and mobility.
Her role model is Aliko Dangote whom she hopes to meet and converse with. Her life’s values are hard work, consistency and determination.
On advice to other entrepreneurs, she says, “Remain hardworking, make a conscious effort to develop yourself regularly, ensure you grow your people-network and always believe in yourself.”
Gbemi Faminu
