When Oluwatosin Abigael Ayodele moved to the UK three years ago, she already had a business skill she knew well: making hair.
Cooking, however, belonged to a different part of her life. It was something she did at home, for herself, her friends and family. She enjoyed it, but she had never considered it a business. Then her friends began to suggest otherwise.
Whenever Ayodele cooked for them, they would tell her the food was good enough to sell. At first, their comments were little more than encouragement. She already had hair to make and a life to build in a new country, so turning cooking into another source of work was not an immediate priority.
It took a birthday party to make the suggestion feel more practical.
Ayodele was asked to anchor a friend’s birthday celebration, where she also prepared the food. It gave her an opportunity to cook on a larger scale and, more importantly, to see how people responded to what she made outside the familiar setting of home and friendship.
