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“Entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted, only the strongwilled Win” – Olapeju Umah

By Esther Ijewere
10 November 2018   |   3:13 am
Olapeju Umah is the content creator at mile12marketwoman. A company that delivers every food and fruit item straight from the market to your doorstep, with over 6 years and hands-on working experience in Information Technology, sales/marketing and business development from working in various industries including oil and gas, telecommunications, manufacturing and FMCG. She has been…

Olapeju Umah

Olapeju Umah is the content creator at mile12marketwoman. A company that delivers every food and fruit item straight from the market to your doorstep, with over 6 years and hands-on working experience in Information Technology, sales/marketing and business development from working in various industries including oil and gas, telecommunications, manufacturing and FMCG.

She has been instrumental to various business expansion and start-ups and she currently sits on the board of various including Afrikwell oil and gas, Prestige college of music and Nigeria enterprises. Since graduating from Olabisi Onabanjo University with a second class upper in Electrical Electronics Engineering, Olapeju has birthed four( 4) companies.

She has attended various leadership and business training from Daystar leadership academy, WIMBIZ and other prestigious organisations. She is happily married to Daniel Umah and they are blessed with two boys.

The beautiful and very intelligent businesswoman shares her journey with me in this interview.

Childhood Influence

I come from a large family of 18 children asides uncles and aunties that stayed with us. My house was practically like a ‘boarding house”. So, as expected, for shopping, we would always do that in bulk. So I guess, yes, my childhood prepared me for this kind of business.

Meet Peju!

I studied Electrical Electronics Engineering in Olabisi Onabanjo University with majors in Telecoms. I am the 14th child of my Father and the 1st of my Mum. I am God’s ambassador on earth with interests in food, interiors and relationship. I am delightfully married to Mr Daniel Umah with 2 wonderful boys as my heritage.

Inspiration behind Mile12 Market Woman

In the year 2014, my family moved to the Ajah axis of Lagos and the first shock that hit me was the exorbitant cost of food items! So, since I have always done bulk shopping, I defied the distance barrier and continued shopping from mile12 market once a month. I then noticed that neighbours would tell me to shop for them whenever I am going. I did this for years until I realized this problem was unique to a lot of people living on that axis. That is how the company Mile12marketwoman was birthed.

Leaving my core for entrepreneurship

Work-life integration for me was tough with a nine to five job as I had started my family before graduating from school so my boys needed all the attention I could give. I quit after just a month’s work! I then knew that to remain relevant, I would have to do business.

Managing four businesses

For my interior décor company (Butter Slides), we operate as the contracts come. We have staff based on contracts. For the FMCG Company, it’s basically on autopilot. We have put systems in place. Mile12marketwoman is the baby we are nurturing and by God’s grace, this baby will mature with no deficiency.

Work-based challenge

One of the challenges unique to mile12marketwoman has to be supplying clients not within our coverage area. Due to the peculiarity of our goods (perishables), we do same day delivery after purchase. We shop for as much as 10 clients per market day and must supply all same day. We get calls from places as far as Festac town and we cannot take such orders due to the limiting factor of distance. We are currently considering ways to solve this.

Positive feedback is my reward

The greatest reward for me has been the wonderful feedback from clients. It is extremely satisfying to know that our service is not only meeting a need but also feeding more people because most of our clients are always overwhelmed with the quantity they get and invariably have to share with others.

Mile 12 Market woman in 5 years

In the next 5 years, I see mile12marketwoman being a household name, especially on the LekkiAjahh axis. In 5 years, we plan to have served 5,000 homes.

Not giving up

Often in the life of an entrepreneur, there are times we feel like throwing in the towel and running back to paid employment. What keeps us going is the vision, the WHY, the passion.

Those who Inspire me

I have a lot of inspiration. One is my Mum. She is very hard working and has experience in various sectors from banking (27years in service) to establishing business in the transport and FMCG sector. My husband also is my number 1 supporter. For every “ridiculous” idea I come up with, he is always there to support. It might interest you to know that he is responsible for our catchy logo.

Entrepreneurial Journey

Entrepreneurship is definitely not for the faint hearted. Opposition will arise when you feel like you’ve got it all together.

Competitors give you a run for your money but in all, it’s a game of gladiators and only the strong willed, smart, principled and God-favored win. I am one!

Being a Woman of Rubies

I am a woman of rubies because I am a woman of many parts. There is a whole lot more that I am made for. I am yet to scratch the surface.

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