Nigeria’s growing middle class and rising income level have presented a vast opportunity for cocktail businesses in the country as the demand for it remains on the up.
Young entrepreneurs with creative thinking have capitalised on the opportunity, bringing in innovations, designs and dexterity into the industry.
Jumoke Michael Ojo
Jumoke Michael Ojo is the creative director and head master bar attendant of Mandies Cocktails Limited, which provides cocktail catering services. The business has a training school called Hospitality Bar Academy, which trains and equips start-ups with skills needed in the hospitality industry.
Jumoke was inspired to start her business when she identified a gap in the industry during her wedding. According to her, she wanted to have a cocktail on her menu list but couldn’t find people who would do that to her taste at that time. This, she said, limited her choice, pushing her to settle with the only one she could find.
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To change that for others, she did some research on the cocktail industry and went to the UK to acquire skills in the hospitality business by attending a bar school, which saw her becoming a certified bar attendant. With this experience, she established Mandies in 2012.
Jumoke said that she had not got any loan from any money deposit bank and her initial start-up capital was from her savings. However, the business had grown tremendously since starting, she said, adding that her brand was one of the biggest in the industry today.
The lawyer-turned-entrepreneur said her business was able to achieve this feat because of consistent hard work and ability to do things creatively and differently. According to her, these qualities had increased her client base, having a many referrals from previous customers.
The social media platforms have impacted her business positively, giving it wider reach to a bigger audience.
She urged other entrepreneurs to use the medium to advertise their businesses and showcase their products.
When asked what her biggest challenge was, Jumoke said dealing and managing people was one of the biggest challenges facing her business. She stated that the consistent rise in the price of food items in the country was also a big challenge.
“The market is becoming a little bit saturated because there are no requirements to meet before starting a cocktail business. You now find all sorts of people in the cocktail industry,” Jumoke said.
“The volatility in the foreign exchange has also made us start sourcing locally because the cost of our production increased tremendously at some point and we started looking at our local fruits to bring down production cost and still maintain our standards.
“We now get our strawberries from Jos, unlike before when we were importing them. The FX volatility has made us creative in achieving same standards when we use local sourced items,” she added.
Adetola Abolarinwa
Adetola Abolarinwa is the founder of The Originals, a cocktail business operating in Lagos and its environs. Adetola has seven years’ experience in Nigeria’s cocktail business.
She was inspired to establish The Originals in 2010 out of her desire to be independent. According to Adetola, her mother had always taught her to be self-dependent.
Growing with this mind-set of self-dependence, Adetola attended a cocktail and bar attendant school in Ibadan after her secondary education, to equip herself with the necessary skills needed for the business.
Being an entrepreneur did not deter her from continuing her education as she was able to combine studies and business. She had to move her business n to the school in order to be more effective and reduce stress.
The Industrial Relations graduate started her business with less than N5, 000, which was spent on the purchase of basic items needed for the business. Her business has grown since starting, owing to her continued efforts and the desire to see it succeed.
Adetola stated that high cost of food items in the market had been a major challenge for the industry, limiting its growth in the last two years. She urged the government to provide a more conductive business environment so that start-ups could survive.
The mixologist told Start-Up Digest that the business had been able to survive because she learnt to always work within her customers’ budgets.
In addition, Adetola said she had remained in business because she was able to create her own niche for her business.
Like Jumoke, Adetola sources her fruits from the local market in the country and pre-order from Vegit, a business platform that supplies varieties of fruits to customers.
She said seasonality in fruit farming was also limiting the potential of the country’s hospitality industry, meaning that Nigeria should grow crops all-year round.
When asked what advice she would give to other young entrepreneurs, Adetola said: “Be persistent, create your own niche, you don’t have to follow the crowd and, finally, you have to pray. It’s always better to be original.”
