GTCO FOOD AND DRINK: DOING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA IS BIG INVESTMENT – IRE HASSAN-ODUKALE; URGES NIGERIANS TO PATRONIZE LOCAL BUSINESSES
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
Ire Hassan-Odukale
A UK-Based Nigerian businessman, Ire Hassan-Odukale has urged Nigerians to support local businesses with their patronage. He added that they should shun their idea which sees everything foreign or established by foreigners as automatically superior over their local counterparts.
Ire Hassan-Odukale made this note after speaking at a masterclass themed ‘The Business of Food’ at the just-concluded GTCO Food and Drinks Festival 2023. He informed Trek Africa Newspaper, ‘All the daily things involved in running a business is also included in running a restaurant. Things like financing, HR, marketing, etc. I am quite impressed by what GTCO is doing. This is my first time here and it’s been a good time. This is where most food businesses in Nigeria should be.’
Ire Hassan-Odukale
On ease of doing business in Nigeria, Hassan-Odukale added: ‘The challenge of supply chain is a major challenge in Nigeria as compared to UK. If you want to have a restaurant in Nigeria, it means you have to own your production chain to avoid disappointment. You have to transport yourself, own your electricity yourself, this is in order for you to derisk your business. It is a big investment and big setup.’
‘Also Nigerians often promote the idea that if it is a foreigner, then it will be good. That is not always true. Our people are doing well, let’s patronize our local people. Many diasporeans are coming home to build businesses here’, he told Trek Africa Newspaper.
The GTCO Food and Drink Festival signposts the GTCO Enterprise as not just an enterprising financial institution but also one that is innovative and is ahead of its peers. It also boost the bank’s economic profile as every vendor opened a GTB account where all transactions in the food festival happened through various platforms like electronic transfers, USSD code, POS transactions, among others.
