I’m Happy Selling Akara Than Getting A Paid Job, Says Ogunmoroti, Political Science Graduate

A graduate of political science from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Ayobami Ogunmoroti has explained how he rejected offers to work in the public sector because he wanted to set up his beans cake (Akara) business.

Ogunmoroti in an interview on Monday said that he preferred being an entrepreneur than taking up a paid employment.

Born in Ifaki in Idosi Local Government area of Ekiti State on June 27,1990 and the last child in a family of seven, Ogunmoroti is currently the only university graduate in his family.

He said, “I have never worked for anybody in my life. So, employment, was never in my calculations. To start with, I don’t have anyone to look up to. In my student union days, I had a lot of rapport with politicians because I did a lot of projects. I even went in to publishing a magazine. I was able to pay school fees for indigent school pupils, buy sandals, school uniforms for them from my solicitations to Professors, Politicians and businessmen in our communities.

“So, on graduation, people expected me to capitalize on those networks of relationships. But the point was that, by the time I graduated, I had already put a lady in the family way. So, I thought to myself that I needed to be responsible and looking for non-existent job was not wise at all.

“So, I went on YouTube seeking what I could sell. Along the way, it just struck my mind that I should start to sell akara (bean cake). Immediately, I started strategizing. I soon went in to frying akara.

“At first, it was soaking oil but people around me kept on encouraging through their patronage. But, someone came up to explain why my akara was soaking oil and it was due to insufficient heat that I was applying.

“So, I needed to change my gas cylinder. I did all that and experienced a great improvement. In two or three months, I noticed a long queue waiting for me to serve them with my bean cake.

“I became very popular. The bean cake was booming and giving me more returns. Soon, my customers started demanding that I should include frying bean cake in the morning. I couldn’t do that because I was still serving. But, I got to a point when I knew that indeed, there was a divine dimension to it all.

“I made so much money then that when my fiancé put to bed, it wasn’t a big deal for me to send N80,000 instead of the N70,000 that was the bill. My dad was curious to ask where the money came from considering the stipend that NYSC was paying.

“So, when the service year was over, I stayed back in Bayelsa and looked for accommodation to continue with my business.

“But, soon, some Bayelsa boys started attacking me. They would collect my hard earned savings; beat my salesgirl. I arranged for the arrest of one of them. But, curiously, the second day, I saw him walking freely on the street because he had been released.
I got to know that 85 per cent of those that were coming to attack me were cultists.”

Ogunmoroti said the series of attacks on his business by suspected thugs and cultists in Bayelsa State made him to relocate to Abuja where he had to start life afresh.

He said, “They (thugs) were always in groups. So, as I settled one, the other will come to demand their own. I had no alternative than to relocate to a more secured place. That was how I later settled for Abuja and came here in December, 2020.

“The problem I had was that I didn’t know anyone in Abuja. At that point, the name of our former Governor, Segun Oni was suggested. I was advised to link up with his Personal Assistant who I was told was in charge of Engr. Segun Oni’s property.

“Luckily, I had had relationship with Segun Oni when I was publishing my magazine. He obliged me and gave me a space in his house.

“It took me about four months to find a location to set up my frying spot. I crisscrossed the city and most places I was scared by rent which were never less than N400,000 per annum.

“Like I said, the odds were enormous but, I resolved that I was not going to give up. It may interest you to note that in all this, I didn’t think of drawing up a CV for the purpose of seeking employment and up till now, I don’t have any.

“It was another incidence of divine intervention the day I got my present location in Garki. I just set out with a carpenter and went opposite Garki market and asked the carpenter to proceed to set up for me.

“It was at that point someone reminded me of the need to contact the owner of the house where I wanted to use front space. As God would have it, the woman, a Yoruba, assured me that she would prevail on her husband to grant me the permission to stay where I identified. And she did.

“Having secured the spot, the next hurdle was how to take off. It needs to be pointed out that my savings were already depleted with the troubles the miscreants in Yenegoa gave me.

“Again, it was Engr Segun Oni that I ran to. I went to demand for N10,000 that I felt was sufficient for me to take off. He queried why I wanted to be frying akara and not do a CV for possible employment. I explained to him that I didn’t know who would be able to assist me look for job. Besides, I told him that frying bean cake was not a new thing to me.

“So, at my insistence, he gave me N30,000 which was enough to start me off and settle the accompanying logistics.

“The following Monday, I started business in earnest and I took shots of my location and sent them to Engr Segun Oni as proof that indeed I had started.”

When asked if he has a sustainable plan to build an enterprise around the Akara business, the Political Science Graduate who said he saves between N80,000 to N100,000 monthly after taking out all his business expenses and said that his hope is to set up the first Akara Restaurant in Abuja.

He added, “From my explanation, you will understand that there is nothing like stop-gap measure.

“If I am to stop frying beans today, what next do I have to do? Nothing. I have looked round and I discovered that there is nothing like Akara Restaurant in the city. My plan is to have the first Akara Restaurant in Abuja and bring Akara spots to people that need it.

“I desire to make Akara Ayo the talk of the town within the capital city. I also wish to have many motorcycles to enhance my distribution to customers.

“My ambition is to build a business around frying Akara such that my children will have something to inherit unlike my father that could not bequeath any such thing to me.

“I reasoned that if I secure a civil service job, it would not be something that my children can inherit. The best that can come from it is my pension which will be personal to me.

“It is instructive that President Buhari recently declared that government does not have job for anyone even if you graduate from Harvard University. So, no reasonable Nigerian youth will be waiting for a job that is not there. I choose to start something on my own.”