"Starting a business is a great risk but never get discouraged no matter what. However, if going into business isn't for you, you'd definitely know along the way. Finally, don't rush into any business simply because you want to make quick cash because you'd end up with a quick crash. Go into business because you want to solve a problem by making cash out of it "
Regina Okoko Founder and CEO at Ginnie's Experience
Q1:Tell us about your yourself:
I'm a multi-talented young woman with a BSC major in Human Kinetics and Health Education. I'm currently pursuing a scholarship program in Product Management. I have deep roots in business plan writing, voice over acting, graphics design, social media and digital marketing, events planning and management, catering and above all, business consultation. I currently run a business, Ginnie's Experience; the parent company to Ginnie's Culinary (a food and beverage brand), Ginnie's Events (the brand behind Ginnie's Fest), Ginnie's Fashion (a brand launching soon) and Ginnie's Fitness and Spa (another brand to be birthed soon).
Q2:What does your company do?:
Ginnie's Experience is the parent company that runs Ginnie's Culinary (a food delivery and catering service that provides unique meals while putting into consideration, health, safety and wellness in mind), Ginnie's Events (a top class brand that handles events out of the regular norm by bringing in mind-blowing creativity, from ideation/planning to execution while keeping in mind that we'd be creating magic for our clients), Ginnie's Fashion (a sophisticated brand that owns classy apparels, footwear and accessories for high taste and sophisticated individuals without having to break the bank), and Ginnie's Fitness and Spa (a top-notch space that gives you all round body treatment and relief while guiding you through your fitness and wellness journey).
Q3: What inspired you to start your business?:
I have always wanted to be a philanthropist; helping those in need, especially those who also have hidden talents as an added advantage. I believe in a community where unemployment can be eradicated or reduced to it's barest minimum. This was my major inspiration for starting up a business - to become a reputable employer of labour.
Q4: How do you define your business model; what differentiates your products or Services from others?:
The USPs of my brand is centred around 4 distinct qualities
1. Uniqueness
2. Creativity/Innovation
3. Interpersonal relationship with each client
4. Breaking away from the norm
Q5: Starting a business is not easy. What struggles did you experience in the infant years of your company and how did you overcome it?:
The general and inevitable hurdle was getting a customer base, especially for Ginnie's Culinary. However, with time, we started building a clientele base based on trust, quality customer relationship and integrity.
Kick-starting Ginnie's Events wasn't also child's play as our first major event being Ginnie's Fest. There were hiccups which are inevitable but in the end, the team surmounted them and we are proud of ourselves but also ready to go harder, bigger and way better.
Q6: What do you know today that you wish you would have known when you first got started?:
Knowing now instead then that in as much as one chooses to start as a small scale business, it's also best to have a team consisting of individuals with different skills needed as the basic foundation of a company to start with.
Q7: Businesses come with stress; what gives you the joy to keep you going?:
My one Joy is knowing that a client is happy with our work. Creating beautiful memories with our clients is top priority for us.
Q8: Why do you think businesses fail in your industry?:
With the current change in global activities due to the pandemic, the economic situation has forced a lot to raise the price tag and raising it beyond a generally affordable level for your niche can make one lose a huge number of clients
Q9: What are your 3 priorities right now:
1. To acquire a Master's Degree in Business and Entrepreneurship
2. To acquire 3 additional skill certificates before the end of 2022
3. To be one of the top brands in Lagos, Nigeria by the end of Q2 of 2023
Q10: What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?:
To be a household name by 2023
To be one of the top 5 leading brands in Africa by 2025
o have been able to keep over 100,000 people employed by 2025
Q11: Advice to other entrepreneurs or to your younger self?:
Starting a business is a great risk but never get discouraged no matter what. However, if going into business isn't for you, you'd definitely know along the way. Finally, don't rush into any business simply because you want to make quick cash because you'd end up with a quick crash. Go into business because you want to solve a problem by making cash out of it.
Abigayle Marks, Cloud Architect & Blockchain Consultant
The food startup industry is booming with innovation, improving the global food ecosystem. Ginnie’s Experience focuses on placing the customer first and creating beautiful memories with their clients. Ginnie’s Culinary provides unique catered meals while considering the client's health, safety, and wellness. To give customers the best possible experience, Regina has successfully transferred her skills in health education to the forefront of her business platform. This added advantage will lead to quality customer relationships centred on trust. Food startups are continuously evolving, as are the demands of their customers. Ginnie’s Experience is quickly becoming one of Africa's leading brands!
The experience economy is the future of all business-to-consumer (B2C) brands. It is those brands that can understand clients and effortlessly create the “here only” experiences to meet the demands of today’s consumers who are overwhelmed with too many choices to choose from, that will thrive in today’s cutting-edge environment.
Regina's versatile skills and unique lived experience across product management and business planning both shaped her solid understanding of her current landscape. Product management equipped her with what it takes to create products that people cannot do without, whilst business planning which gave her a vantage perspective to build fierce brands from the bottom up.
Her unique complementary skills set further include her proven track-record as a voice artist and acting, which is proving to be an incredible boost, to her content creation priorities as a n entrepreneur, leveraging voice over, graphics design, social media, and digital marketing - a great combination of aptly timed skills-sets from a media perspective, to drive value for one’s business, from inward out.
The intense demands of consumers in this unfolding experience economy indeed require that businesses of this kind be social and digital media first, in order to consistently drive traffic and growth. As a cherry on top: she has capabilities around events planning which, equipping her to create unforgettable experiences, as a wrap around her food offerings, instead of merely providing food.
These multiple skill sets, coupled with her drive to succeed, set Ginnie apart, as a very resourceful businesswoman. Having locked her sights on evolving her business towards emerging among Lagos, Nigeria’s top brands, in her category, by the end of Q2 of 2023, a lot of her friends and family members are unlikely to get onto her diary across the next 10 months, as she devotes herself to taking over that summit position in her industry. We count down with her, as she edges towards these incredible milestones, daily.
By 2035 Africa’s population will exceed 2 billion. That is almost double the existing population. Would that be double the challenges or double the opportunities? The new population swell, 60% of it projected to be residing in urban centres, will need food, so food security is key from the onset. The need for commercial catering would have at least doubled.
Companies like Ginnie's Experiences will thrive, by positioning themselves to address those macro needs, beyond now, into that future. Ginnies’ commitment to create memorable experiences beyond merely providing food, embracing innovation, whilst gearing to take their brand to the next level: will aptly position them to realise tangible wins. We look forward to their unfolding journey: creating jobs and unforgettable experiences.
Connect with Regina Okoko
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