Ayo Alonge, [email protected]
Patrick Osamudia is the Chief Executive Officer of Unique Patolitos, a startup into catering and confectionery.
Having been in business for over 14 years, Osamudia, in this interview, shares his winning strategy, while admitting that there have been mitigating challenges too. He, however, lends some business advice to budding entrepreneurs like him.
Background
I have been in business for 14 now. That is from 2006 till date, but I started working with an eatery in 2001. Before starting up on my own, I worked with several eateries and hotels in Lagos. After obtaining a diploma in Education from the University of Benin (UNIBEN), I just thought the baking experience might help, maybe in the area of having to help my wife when she is pregnant. I never thought I would ever do this for a living but you know that, sometimes, life doesn’t go the way you plan it and like you know, you have to really check what your talent is and what you are passionate about. I really knew I had passion for food but never knew I would be fully into it and here I am.
Motivation
My number one driving force any time, any day, is God and will always be God. Sometimes, I just sit and get to see missed calls and messages, people placing orders. I produce and supply and make my clean money almost with ease. The motivation here is that I have seen the business grow from a N4,000 business to the level it is now.
The truth is that I never really thought I would be doing what I am doing now, but I know that, growing up, I used to have this flair for food, particularly because my mum had a canteen there in Surulere. As the third child, I was the sales boy even though I had two elder sisters. After secondary school, the first job I got was a fast food job and that was how I got into the business.
Two weeks later, people just told my boss to bring me down to the catering section just because I was so passionate about what I was doing. I have seen what a small business can become in no time and I am even paying salaries to people conveniently because the business is really growing. The joy of seeing a business grow is overwhelming. Secondly, I love what I do. I believe that this is what I love to do. It is my calling and I find fulfillment in it. So, why should I travel abroad especially as I don’t even know what I will face there?
Basics on catering
I will say catering is an art and it’s all about creativity. Later on in the business, I was inspired to make three snacks put together and sell at the same rate others with one pack do. That is at N350. And that is how I came up with the idea of Unique. That is having three different snacks packaged together, and that was the brand that eventually suggested the name my business bears now – Unique Patolitos. So, what I’m talking about is the ability to create my own market such that customers get three items at an affordable rate. That is, doughnut, sausage roll and meatpie.
Business strategy
Give the customers what they want and they will never go anywhere else. Give the customer the highest quality at a very affordable price. Like I told you, the 3-in-1 brand is what I sell the most. Now the strategy is this, when you go to other fast food outlets, you get a single pie for N350 but when you come to Unique Patolitos, you get three snacks for the same amount and even of higher quality. I am not really reducing price drastically. We make the sizes accurate. Don’t forget that we don’t incur costs or expenses like mega fast food outlets where they have to run a generator, incur maintenance cost, and a lot of things to keep the company going. What we do is to simply produce and send to the market.
Challenges
There are lots of challenges and especially the situation in Nigeria but we thank God we are scaling through. It is only for one to find something unique about his business and maximise the potential. I started business with just N4,000 with a partner and we started by making cookies. If cookies are well prepared, they can last up to four to six months.
Business goals
It is to be a leading brand in our field. When I was working for fast food joints, I discovered that people tend to not take care of their staff. For me, I make sure I pay salaries before the 28th of the month. We had a function one day and I gave them N10,000 each, and that is just different from their normal pay. I gave them this even before we left for the job. My business moves fine even when I am not around because I told myself I will never maltreat my staff and that is making the business work.
Entrepreneurial advice
One, everything starts from somewhere and often takes time. I wrote the vision, making it plain, like the Bible tells us. When nobody chooses to run with your vision, you have to take the bull by the horn and start somewhere. The skill is what matters, not the money. If you have the skill and display it with diligence, money will come. It is all about determination and hard work added to the little capital you have.
The Bible says: “Don’t despise the days of little beginning.” Younger generations should discover their passion and pursue it. Know for sure that hard work pays off. The small business you start today can begin to blossom if you do it well, especially when you are diligent. Great achievements really take time, but if you are diligent, the line will break and you will have a breakthrough in it.
Core values
My number one core value is integrity. When they say “give us hundred pieces of snacks”, it has to be really a hundred pieces or more. I will never supply less. Let me give you an instance. One day, a big catholic church nearby called me and said they wanted us to supply 2,000 packs of snacks.
They were so doubtful that we may not be able to meet up as this was past 9pm and they needed the order at 11am the next day. I went round to hire people everywhere in town because my staff had closed and I could not even reach them that night. When I eventually supplied them, I was told it was 1,990. I told the catechist to withhold the money for the 10 pieces but to my amazement, the catechist could not but praise me. You see, that is the integrity that I am talking about. You cannot take someone else’s thing and add to your own and still be successful in business. Apart from integrity, I love hard work.