Adenike Apeji (a.k.a Iya Kuli-kuli), is a serial entrepreneur, and the Founder of Renee Golden Multi-Ventures, a food and beverage, and agricultural value-chain-focused business. She doubles as an accountant and also operates as a Customer Relations Officer and Retail Advisory to both National and Multinational Businesses. In this interview with Sunday Ehigiator, she shed light on how she transformed a business she began with just N29,000 into a multimillion naira investment, which has equally empowered several women in Nigeria. Enjoy excerpt
Tell us about yourself and what you do?
I’m a serial Entrepreneur. I’ve been a consultant in accounting and accounting software over the years. I’ve worked at multinationals like Etisalat (9mobile) and some other consulting firms. I’ve taken roles as retail advisor, customer relations, and, basically as an accountant to organizations over the years.
Currently, I’m serving as the Creative Director of Renee Golden Multi-venture. It is a food and beverage company that has valid chain processes in agricultural products we have delivered over the years on some products. But we are taking one product at a time. And we started with groundnut and we revamped Kuli-kuli. We didn’t invent it, it’s something that we have all eaten as young children and we found a new thing, and we decided to work on it.
Bring us up to speed on the genesis of your business?
I’ll say it started during my service year. I was posted to a village called Kutigi in Niger State, and that’s where the dream of this Kuli-kuli business started. I discovered that there was a gold mine there, in the instance of the Kuli-kuli business.
And I sorted to find the people that do it. So I told my parents I’m not coming back home. This was my one year of discovering myself, discovering who I want to be and what I want to go into. So I went back, my first allowance, I went to Ojuelegba. I came home for Christmas. I got different kinds of books filled and went back to the village.
So while entering the village I started seeing a young girl whose name is Aminat. Her picture is still in my office, she hawks Kuli-kuli every morning. I kept asking her why she wouldn’t go to school and then I had this strong feeling that this kuli-kuli could bring something great out of this girl and her likes.
So I started thinking about how I could help them to actualize this. So I established a vocational centre in that village and the Governor recognized it and gave me the Governor’s Award in Niger state. This was in the year 2004.
So that was it. I knew that something great could come out of nowhere. It was a small village but I knew that it was a gold mine. So I thought about the rural-urban migration. I thought about how these people can make meaning out of space, and so I started my research.
However, after my NYSC, I was working at the State Ministry of Finance, but I didn’t spend much time there, then I went into consulting on accounting software. I spent about eight to nine years with my boss, learning and helping small businesses to set up their accounting systems in the IT way. So I did that and as I was establishing that, I added asset management too.
I think I did asset management for daystar and so many other things. So from there, I progressed to Multinationals. I think God wanted me to have exposure to different areas that make up a business and don’t forget I said I’m always led to do anything by God. And so I moved into multinational customer service.
I would tell you that the two halves of the business are customer service and accounting. When you can bring customers in and you can manage the funds well your business will grow. So I think God wanted me to have a pinch of that customer service. So, I was in customer service in Etisalat Nigeria and I think that was the best customer service from telecoms.
So in the same Etisalat, I was moved from customer service to retail advisor so I ran at three different centres. So on one holy day I just sat down and I felt that I had had enough.
I knew that I was going to start something, of course, God being my guide I knew that it was time to start up. And so I went into the village that I went to serve, actually to be honest with you. I never wanted to stay; I went out of the country already. I moved to the United States of America (USA), and I was about to settle down but I lost my peace. I started asking God what he wants me to do. If I go back to Nigeria, and the economy does not empower women.
So I started researching, what was wrong with the kuli-kuli they were selling in that village, and why is it not finding acceptance. I started doing research and worked on it. I took it to various labs, what kind of water, what kind of environment. And then we started. So that’s how I started the kuli-kuli.
I gave so much into research. I said to myself, why will cookies stand on a shelf and kuli-kuli cannot? You even have more nutritional value in kuli-kuli than a box of cookies.
I realised that people would eat kuli-kuli sometimes and see them. So I sat down with the processing and I made sure that every single product comes out top-notch, meaning that even if we have to pick all the wrongs in the groundnut to ensure only the clean ones go into processing, I’m ready to pay that price. So the content was the best quality for me, if your content is not making sense your package won’t as well. So we put all our effort into the content.
I remember the first time I ever received an idea to go and share kuli-kuli at a party. It was my friend Barrister Solape’s project that day. And so I sat down packaging that morning and said, ‘come on, we can make this thing into a very nice package and share it at the party. To kill my doubt I made chin-chin and I made kuli-kuli.
So I went and looked for a package branded with our name, and “happy 40th birthday.” And I got to the party, and to my shock, everybody wanted the kuli-kuli more than the chin-chin and so you were right on the testing ground for me to know this has an acceptance.
So I went and researched, I went as far as China to get packaging that suits what I wanted it to be. So I had a picture in mind of what I wanted it to look like. Last December we were packing and people were ordering kuli-kuli to put in hampers, a particular customer called and made orders, and we had to deal with the quality, quantity, and packaging.
Those are the things I saw that did not make it acceptable in the first place. And once we solved that, we saw that we could gain acceptance into so many arms. To be honest with you we have a very good problem, too much demand and less supply because we are trying to scale up to do the machined process.
One of the things we’ve also done with the kuli-kuli is that we’re working on how to get it effectively and efficiently produced because of the tedious process that goes into it. I want to be able to produce in two days, instead of five, so that I will always be able to satisfy my customers.
Looking at the unfriendly economy, how have you been able to remain afloat, do you take bank loans?
Oh yes. You see my company would have scaled up to more than this. I don’t want to mention names but Sterling Bank has been the basic bank that I use when it comes to the point scaling up. It’s been very tough. The rates are not friendly and the core of my mission is that it is affordable. When you call kuli-kuli the first thing that comes with it is affordability, that’s the mindset.
My margins are not very high. So that margin of interest rates is so bad, we have these because one of the things we have done is that we’re seeing light in dark places. So my model is not taking away the business from that environment that is established. For example, my factory remains in Niger state and I have had times I had to do insurance.
Nigeria was ranked 135 out of 145 as one of the countries where you don’t have ease of doing business. Doing business for us is just like saying we are like a camel passing through a needle’s eye. It’s been tough but one of the strengths of an entrepreneur is your resonance, not giving up in the face of everything.
What makes your products unique?
Our unique selling point is that our products are commercially safe, hygienically produce healthy, nutritious, quality, and affordable. This gives us an edge in the market competition out there.
Give us insight into your establishment cost, and current asset or worth?
I started Renee Golden Multi-ventures in 2017 from my living room with the sum of N29,000 and then in 2019, we moved into an office space and expanded factory space at Bida, in Niger state. Now we are worth over N12 million in assets and generated revenue of over N22.5 million in 2021.
How is the business contributing to the economy?
As an organization, we are contributing greatly to the economic growth of the nation and making a social impact within our communities of operation. We are creating employment opportunities for graduates and youth in Nigeria as we have 7 management staff and 28 production and sales staff.
Also, we provide an internship platform (with over 25 interns taken and scaled up to the proper education system) for both secondary school students and undergraduates in the tertiary institution by equipping them through training on relevant employability skills and to gain experience for the future. Over the years we have economically empowered over 200 women through our retail distribution channel, entrepreneurial skills, and vocational training in capacity building as SMEs.
With our expansion plans ongoing for raw material sourcing we would be empowering over 100 groundnut out-growers within local governments of Niger state in the northern region of Nigeria with modernized machinery, training structure, and capacity building for their farm yields to eradicate wastage of farm produce.
We have been able to preserve, rebrand, and promote loyalty and respect for our indigenous products such as our local snacks kuli, Tigernut drink (kunu aya), honey, and local rice in the global market. Global statistics of wastage on-farm produce presently stand.
What is your magic wand?
My greatest motivation in life is that I have one life to live and an impact must be made with this life. So I must not waste any opportunity. Work while it is a day for the night cometh when no man can work
