Be bold and meditate about your "WHY".

I started my entrepreneurship journey after my father passed away, his death changed something in me. I had to quickly learn how to stand up for what I believed in and how I wanted to follow my dreams and persue business. I had to be bold and loud and my passion and goals, because other people could not see what I was trying to build. Only I had the road map to my destination and the next step was to identify ways to make it a reality, those ways came with a lot of abstacles and self doubt. And that's when I learned how important meditation is and how intentional you need to be in whatever is important to you.

I am very lucky because I am doing what I am passionate about and it makes me happy, the journey hasn't been easy though to say the least. I am the first one in my family to venture into entrepreneurship and running a business, so as you can imagine the concern my family had when I said I want to do business and I believe I can make it a success. I had to say that boldy and be clear about "WHY" I wanted to start a business. The why is crucially important to identify very early in the journey, because when things start getting a little difficult your " WHY" will put things back into perspective.

I have such big dreams for my business, to be a company that values people and strives in creating a positive impact in so many communities through food and economy growth. The restaurant is going to be amazing, it's gonna be something that have never been done before in my town. The goal is not be just a catering company for events, but be a catering company for communities. Our core values are nutrition, unique products, convinient, user friendly, sustainable and reliable.

When I got accepted into the Tony Elumelu entrepreneurship program in 2021, I was so excited and determined to make it a success. I was intentional about the programme from the beginning and made plans on how I was gonna execute every task. I did that because I knew my "WHY" and I was bold about it, it gave me the strength I needed to work and push up until the finish line when I got that congratulatory email saying I was chosen as one of the winners.

If you planning to start a business or side Hustle, my advice is to sit down in aa quiet place and meditate about your " WHY". Once you have identified it then the next step is to go for it and start, start with whatever you have and whatever you might need you'll acquire along the way. The trick is to start and learn as you go, I think it's better to know which area of expertise or skill you need very early in your journey that way you eliminate making a lot of costly mistakes.

Not everyone will understand what you are trying to accomplish, and that's okay. Focus on your goals and tube out the external noises that course distractions, I had to stand up for my dream of running a successful business. I had people from outside telling me how I should structure my business model, and that I was aiming to high. They were saying my dream was unattainable for me, because it's something other people struggle to do so what makes me think it will be different for me.

So when those obstacles creep up on you, the " WHY" will be the deciding factor on whether or not you fold and quit or you push through and align your focus in the right direction. I had a mentor that helped me in the early days of my journey and quickly stated nertworking within different organizations to broaden my horizonsand spend time with like minded individuals so I can absorb the energy I knew I needed.

I strongly believe in creating a strong foundation for anything you do that you want to last and impact a lot of people. Because I knew my road map and how I wanted the final destination to look like, I spent a lot of time building my business foundation and it started with me. I had to start improving myself and seeking knowledge and stepping out my comfort zone in order to perform better,the more I learned the more I knew what steps I needed to take towards building a solid business foundation.

Be bold, be intentional, be mindful and meditate to identify your "WHY"...