The BusinessDay CEO Magazine August 2017
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>BusinessDay</strong> <strong>CEO</strong>, Aug <strong>2017</strong> | 23<br />
Olamide Jinadu: What was the name of this restaurant?<br />
Chef Eros: La Saisson, it was a little corner-piece building in partnership with<br />
Cakes by Tosan on Raymond Njoku.<br />
Olamide Jinadu: So what were your major challenges, when starting up?<br />
Chef Eros: I didn't really have any challenges starting up because I worked<br />
from home in 1004, which was fully serviced meaning that I didn't have any<br />
light issues. I would say my major challenge was accessibility to raw materials<br />
because I needed to import a lot the things I needed but as time went on I<br />
found people that made them here, and I was also able to sort my packaging.<br />
<strong>The</strong> other challenge I faced was staffing as we all know that can be pretty<br />
difficult getting them to deliver the same results, so it's still something I still<br />
struggle with. I started my business with just fifteen thousand naira, and what I<br />
did with that was return whatever I gained from my sales back into the<br />
business until I was able to get investors . As the business started growing I<br />
started to get support from a financial institution and that was how I was able<br />
to move to my current location.<br />
Olamide Jinadu: Did you<br />
ever have to deal with<br />
any cultural barriers to<br />
entry being male?<br />
Chef Eros: Oh yes! <strong>The</strong><br />
first thing I heard in the<br />
press was that I was a<br />
homosexual just because<br />
I baked cookies. I wasn't<br />
particularly surprised<br />
because I'd heard a lot of<br />
that being said during my<br />
restaurant days and I just<br />
figured that it was just<br />
how the average<br />
Nigerian felt towards a