In Day 1–1000, we observe founders by the uncooked, unfiltered journey of company-building: the early scrambles, the quiet breakthroughs, the painful pivots, and the milestones that form what a enterprise turns into. This goes dwell on Saturdays by 2 PM WAT.
The acrid sting of rotten tomatoes. The musty gutters working behind stalls. The sharp tang of recent greens packed in raffia baskets. These smells—unmistakable and inescapable in Nigerian open-air markets—are etched within the reminiscence of Olapeju Umah, co-founder of grocery supply startup MyFoodAngels.
{An electrical}-electronics engineer who by no means held a 9-to-5, Umah has spent the previous decade iterating on one obsession: making good high quality meals cheaper and simpler to entry for the common Nigerian household.
The concept took form in 2014 when her household moved from the Lagos mainland to Ajah, a distant neighbourhood on the island. “The price of meals was insane,” she recollects. “I’ve at all times purchased in bulk, so I simply saved going to Mile 12 as soon as a month.” That journey was a 1 hour 26 minutes commute (40.8 km)
These grocery runs quickly grew to become one thing extra. Neighbours—largely busy professionals—started asking her to choose up meals staples for them for a price. The casual service grew organically. By 2018, Umah formalised it as Mile12 Market Lady, a small crew that delivered groceries from the mainland to houses and eating places on the island.
Then got here COVID.
Day 1–100: Construction by chaos
With lockdowns and market closures, demand surged. Umah’s pre-COVID groundwork gave her a head begin, and the service shortly grew to become a lifeline to households and eating places.
Whereas orders surged, Umah noticed a pointy decline within the meals high quality the crew sourced in open markets. Revenue margins she had as soon as relied on have been shortly eroded by Nigeria’s relentless meals inflation, which has been a serious driver of the nation’s headline inflation.
Like each founder, Umah confronted the basic dilemma: pivot or perish.
She selected the previous. By 2021, the corporate had rebranded to MyFoodAngels, and so they started sourcing meals objects instantly from farmers, which was 15-20% cheaper than shopping for from open markets.
“We needed to begin from scratch,” she tells me.
The rebrand got here with product confusion, organisational shuffles, and a elementary shift in how clients and workers interacted with the corporate.
Earlier than the rebrand, the corporate had operated their total operation on WhatsApp, dealing with each orders and transactions on the platform. Nonetheless, with its rising person base, WhatsApp change into unsustainable. As a part of its rebrand, the corporate launched a web site and an enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) system to assist optimise orders and supply.
However know-how doesn’t resolve every part. The larger problem was behavioural. Prospects, lengthy accustomed to the intimacy and immediacy of ordering on WhatsApp, have been now required to order on a web site. The transition was something however easy. To onboard reluctant clients, MyFoodAngels workers manually created person profiles, migrated WhatsApp clients onto the net platform, and stuffed carts individually. The crew additionally supplied web-only reductions to incentivise clients to hitch.
As clients started adopting the web site for deliveries, the ERP system bumped into some points. “The ERP system wasn’t optimised. It saved pulling billing addresses as a substitute of supply addresses. That meant a buyer in Ikeja would order supply to Ikoyi—and we’d go to the unsuitable location.” Umah recounted. “It was chaotic, however we stayed the course.”
As clients adopted the web site for ordering, MyFoodAngels additionally needed to make a number of changes to help the transition. As an illustration, on the web site, customers might solely place orders by specifying portions in kilograms (for instance, “tomato 1kg”). This starkly contrasted with the WhatsApp expertise, the place clients merely gave a worth estimate for what they wished. To resolve this, MyFoodAngels launched a “identify your worth” characteristic to copy the WhatsApp-style budgeting system.
One other ache level was repeat ordering. Many shoppers positioned the identical month-to-month orders on WhatsApp, making reordering easy. Nonetheless, this comfort was lacking from the web site at launch. MyFoodAngels later rolled out a “re-order” characteristic, enabling customers to repeat earlier orders with a single click on shortly.
Even packaging grew to become a battleground. Umah recollects one early buyer used to Mile12 Market Lady’s rustic deliveries: “She known as me, livid. She mentioned, ‘The place did you purchase this from? Why does it look so neat? I desire a refund!’ She didn’t consider we purchased it from the market. She thought we went to a grocery store.” That buyer remains to be with the corporate up to now.
One main lesson from that section: information is oxygen. At Mile12 Market Lady, every part lived in WhatsApp threads or the founder’s reminiscence. There was no buyer historical past, no order data, and no readability. “Now, each choice is backed by information. From pricing to product packaging to tech options—we acquire and analyse every part.”
Whereas MyFoodAngels addressed all of its product bottlenecks, its inside tradition wanted consideration. Early hires from the Mile12 Market Lady period struggled to adapt to a tech-enabled enterprise. “Some workers simply couldn’t transition. They weren’t getting it—even after coaching. We needed to allow them to go. We began hiring for competence, not comfort,” Umah recounts.
Day 101–1000: The challenges of being bootstrapped
After its rebrand, MyFoodAngel’s first second of validation got here after it onboarded its first 1,000 clients. The corporate additionally onboarded some massive restaurant chains after that.
Whereas its rebrand to MyFoodAngel addressed its high quality management concern and introduced some construction to the enterprise, its subsequent progress section targeted on streamlining its provide chain from procurement to logistics. In addition to instantly taking items from farms, MyFoodAngels bought land and commenced farming its produce.
The corporate, which had beforehand primarily trusted third-party logistics suppliers, started investing in its fleet of supply vans. This strategic transfer granted MyFoodAngels higher management over supply schedules, service high quality, and operational effectivity—essential components in scaling a meals provide enterprise. Nonetheless, this method contrasts with the asset-light fashions usually favoured by many enterprise capitalists, who usually choose companies that minimise capital expenditure and operational complexity
MyFoodAngels is presently worthwhile. Whereas the enterprise has primarily been bootstrapped, it has obtained some assist. It acquired a ₦2 million ($1,260) grant from Flourish Africa in 2022, ₦10 million ($) from GETAccelerated in 2023, and over ₦1 million ($630) from the GITEX Dubai Feminine Founders and Funders Program in 2024.
Being a bootstrapped enterprise has include its personal set of challenges. For one, the corporate hasn’t grown as quick because it wished to. The corporate’s advertising and marketing spend has been lean and leaned into word-of-mouth to amass a few of its purchasers. “Our progress has been gradual however regular plus we’ve got learnt to get options with the littlest amount of cash,” Umah notes. “Being self-funded makes you suppose ten instances more durable. We don’t make emotional selections. Each selection is filtered by one query: Can I nonetheless pay salaries if I do that?”
Being bootstrapped additionally signifies that the corporate hasn’t been in a position to afford high expertise and has to coach a few of its workers.
“We’ve needed to do with suggestions from inside our community which got here with its challenges,” Umah mentioned. “As a result of we employed primarily based on relationships and never essentially competence, some workers weren’t ok.”
The corporate says that when it raises cash, will probably be in a position to rent skills of its selection.
Current day: A enterprise constructed on perception
In the present day, MyFoodAngels has served over 10,000 customers, with 5,000 coming again month-to-month. The corporate is worthwhile and employs over 30 individuals, a far cry from the five-person hustle of Mile12 Market Lady.
“We serve each B2C and B2B. Eating places love us as a result of they will hint the supply of their meals—and entry expense information by our platform.”
And whereas the operation now hums, sure realities stay. Submit-harvest losses nonetheless harm, particularly with leafy greens. Chilly storage stays a essential bottleneck. “We promote as we uptake. But when we had correct storage, we might maintain stock longer, scale back sale value, and waste much less.”
Nigeria loses ₦3.5 trillion ($2.11 billion) annually to post-harvest losses—an quantity that’s 9 instances the nation’s present agricultural finances. The affect is very extreme for fruits, greens, and tuber crops, with almost half of all harvests misplaced earlier than they attain shoppers.
Umah’s resolution to tackling post-harvest losses is twofold: first is best chilly storage amenities, and second is utilizing F1 seeds, a hybrid seed proof against Tuta absoluta, tomato leaf miner, a typical illness that ravages meals crops throughout the nation. MyFoodAngels offers farmers with the seed for a share settlement: farmers maintain 30% of the yield whereas giving 70% to the corporate.
I requested if Umah has ever thought of quitting the enterprise. “Sure, I’ve thought of quitting a variety of instances,” Umah mentioned.
“Submit-harvest loss is actual, and it’s extra disheartening to assist a farmer stop that, solely to lose the identical merchandise after offtaking as a result of lack of satisfactory transportation and storage amenities. As a bootstrapping founder, it’s much more painful. We’ve developed big pores and skin within the recreation for each new frontier.”
Six years after shunning buyers’ cash, MyFoodAngels is out there to lift $500,000 pre-seed funds. A part of the funding will go into chilly storage infrastructure. MyFoodAngels has additionally been testing out operations in Abuja, the place it plans to broaden subsequent after its fundraising. It additionally plans to launch a cell app quickly.
However for now, Umah stays grounded in objective. “Till the common Nigerian can spend lower than 51% of their earnings on meals, we’ve got work to do.” She doesn’t romanticise the street. “It’s been gradual. It’s been regular. However I’d do it once more. A thousand instances, sure.”
