As Nigeria continues to hope for an end to the coronavirus pandemic, some passionate entrepreneurs are making frantic efforts to ensure Nigerians eat healthy meals at affordable costs.
One of such entrepreneurs driving this initiative is Ibidunni Layade, the Chief Executive Officer of Dunnice Catering Services.
Ibidunni said during the period of the total lockdown, her brand leveraged social media to share information to customers on healthy lifestyles to maintain, as well as recommend healthy food recipes to consume, to boost immunity against diseases. The social media engagement was well received based on feedback from the public. The catering expert revealed that, for her, the social media engagement was a form of social responsibility which she said is a core policy of her company.
“As an expert in the field, I have always found fulfilment in sharing health and food safety knowledge to people most especially now at this sensitive period.”
Speaking on when she ventured into catering business, she said her foray into entrepreneurship dates back to 2006, but specifically into catering in 2013. Since then she has been providing food for social and corporate events, delivering home-made food in bowls, corporate cafeteria management services, amongst others.
In the course of doing this business, her brand has been privileged to handle jobs for different categories of individual clients and corporate organizations like Forte Oil (now Ardova Plc), Deloitte, Jagal, Stanbic Asset Management, GE, GTBank and many others. According to her, the journey has been interesting because of the God factor, diligence, hardwork, customer satisfaction and having the right team to work with. She explained: “The business terrain in Nigeria has been challenging, but we have been able to grit our teeth, navigate the waters and swim against the current, through teamwork and keeping abreast of industry information and happenings. The continuous support of our loyal and new clients has been the bulwark of our success.”
Speaking further, the Dunnice empress said her belief in the core values of integrity, quality, diligence and excellent customer service has brought her this far in the industry. The catering expert did not fail to encourage other colleagues in the industry, urging them at this time to maintain stricter hygiene by adhering to all health and food safety handling rules. She said they should regularly see to it that their staff put on their personal protective equipment (PPE) in kitchen areas, during food preparation and delivery to clients.
Explaining what it takes to thrive in Nigeria, Ibidunni said: “To succeed in Nigeria it takes focus, willingness to roll-up sleeves, stay in the trenches with the troops and get dirty; as well as having the ability to multi-task. She enjoined youths to pursue education, formal or informal which serves as the base of success.
The Dunnice boss revealed that her clients are in for a swell-time, with the array of creative owanbe dishes, soup bowls services & to go food being brought to their door steps.”You might not be able to go to an owambe party for now and the foreseeable future, but you can still eat those delicious meals when you order the party styled menu from the Kitchen of Dunnice.” She concluded.
