Faces of Entrepreneurship ft. Blessing Okundaye
Being an entrepreneur might mean various things to different people. According to Blessing Okundaye, the founder and CEO of Afrodeez, being an entrepreneur is about using your imagination to solve problems. Blessing’s hard work uncovering chances in everyday life resulted in Afrodeez, which she believes can raise cultural awareness, promote education, improve diversity and inclusivity, and make her community more equal.
Afrodeez offers low-cost meals for big gatherings, bringing you and your group high-quality, healthy, diversified African-inspired meals at fast-food costs.
Tell us about yourself, your professional background, and your business. How are you entrepreneurial?
I am a natural-born leader and a hard worker. When having those attributes, being an entrepreneur comes to you naturally, even if the word “entrepreneur” is not what you had in mind. I have been a project creator for as young as I can remember. When I was 11, I would take my mom’s recycled drink bottles, go into my kitchen, squeeze some fruits, and create fruity drinks. As I got older, I would bake cookies and sell them to my classmates. Did I ever sell them? Absolutely not — they were disgusting! But, from the inspiration, I made a website and a YouTube video, which is still up today.
When I was 14, I drafted a children’s summer program to promote childcare and education to local kids around my church. That venture led me to become the youngest youth coordinator at my church by the time I was 16. The idea of Afrodeez came to me at church when our pastor announced we were going to host an event and told us that we should invite our friends, even of different cultures. That’s when the idea dawned on me, as I was wondering how to get my non-Nigerian friends to want to partake in my extremely Nigerian church activities. Knowing that food brings us together, I thought to myself to myself “tell your friends there is free food.” However, all the food was Nigerian and was not strictly for my friends who did not like spice, eating with their hands, and certain smells. Through that, I created Afrodeez to bridge the gap by introducing African food to non-African audiences.
What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
Entrepreneurship, to me, is the ability to be creative, have an idea that solves a problem, and have an even more innovative way of convincing others that you have “THE SOLUTION.” The impact that your solution has is what makes entrepreneurship important. Every entrepreneur is making a change in their respective fields. Entrepreneurship is the ability to create change and ability to make history!
How does an entrepreneurial mindset contribute to your life?
Being entrepreneurial or being an entrepreneur is more than just running a business. It’s a combination of skills that helps make your business successful, such as problem-solving, troubleshooting, networking, marketing, strategic planning, risk management, personal accounting, etc. These are all entrepreneurial skills that I incorporate into my daily life. The skills you acquire being an entrepreneur genuinely launch you forward to impact not only your business but your daily life.
To learn more about Afrodeez, click here!
