The journey of a thousand miles, they say, begins with a single step just as it is said that little drops of water make the mighty ocean. These popular sayings played out very well in the story of Mrs. Kehinde Kamson, the simple and unassuming managing director and chief executive officer of Sweet Sensation, who operated her confectionary business from her backyard for eight years before the first outlet was opened and guess where? In a tiny converted security house at the Ilupeju area of Lagos. All she had, two used air conditioners and a few other scrappy equipment. Today, that her tiny room and parlour business has metamorphosed into several outlets in Nigeria.
The beginning
Kehinde has never been a struggling woman, she had a very comfortable beginning with all the good education and discipline she could get. Her background played a strong role in whom she has become today. Born a twin to two educationists, she was well grounded in discipline, hard work and morality. Her father was a well respected clergyman who spent the better part of his life moulding the life of youths as a teacher, the mother, also an educationist had a strong entrepreneurial spirit running in her vein. In fact, she defiled the expectations that she should just sit at home as a house wife to even found a school of her own.
Perhaps, Kehinde took after her mother in entrepreneurship, for years after, the young woman with a good husband and a comfortable home as well as a good job as the head of accounts in an oil servicing firm, gave up that plum job to venture into the uncertain world of entrepreneurship, and catering for that matter. That did not go down well with many of her friends who thought she was out of her mind.
But she knew what she wanted.
Kehinde, a graduate of accounting from the University of Lagos, a chartered accountant and an alumnus of the Lagos Business School, had everything going for her. However, at the time she took the decision to quit her job it was not necessarily because the spirit of enterprise was burning in her, but more because of her love for her family. She wanted to spend more time with her children and her husband.
A new life
Restless like her mother, Kehinde just could not keep her fingers idle. She soon realised that she has a hobby which she hadn’t thought of turning into a business, she loves cooking.
She initially started with cakes, pastries and supplies to fast food joints like Mr. Biggs, UTC, Leventis, Kass Chicken and a few others.
Recalling events of those days, she said, “along the line, I thought of starting something on my own. That thought led to the Ilupeju outlet. It was basically experimental. I wasn’t thinking so big for it at the start. At that time Mr. Biggs was not taking finished pastries because they produced their own. Ours was the first they ever took as a finished product. It took me two years to penetrate Mr. Biggs and I will like to say that seeing myself supplying to Mr. Biggs was actually one of the things that motivated me to set up a major eatery joint. Seeing long queues of people dishing out money, I thought to myself, why am I slaving away supplying things to all these companies, why can’t I set up a big outlet too? That was how the desire came to set up the Victoria Island outlet.”
Growing the business
Being a focused person with a vision of where she was heading, Kehinde did not look back once she started despite the challenges she faced. Hers is a product of a particular type of mind set, skill set and character set.
She, of course did not fail to mention the unreserved support she got from her husband. In fact she describes him as the inspirer and her solid source of support.
Her philosophy of life is never to underestimate what can come out of small beginning. This mind set according to her will make you never to be scared or shy of starting at whatever level you are in presently. “You’ve got to be very patient and persevering because if you are too eager to enter into the ‘big league’, you might get frustrated and get hurt,” she advises.
Kehinde believes that success is knowing one’s purpose in life, as well as a feeling of achievement that persists forever. She also said success is achieved in inches, a story line that lasts forever, that according to her is the story of Sweet Sensation.
Guiding principles
Kehinde depends on God for everything, particularly for guidance, she believes in hard work, she tries to put passion into whatever she does and she is a perfectionist with an unquenchable love for excellence.
Her advice
“I would advise young people to pursue good education. Education helps to broaden your thinking. Good education can help you to develop creativity. There are many opportunities that people don’t pay attention to. There are so many things people could do. Look at what is happening in the comedy industry. Sincerely speaking, our youths have no reason to be idle especially when they are graduates. Yes people are already in the area you would have wanted to go into, but there are still a lot of opportunities untapped in that same area. All you need to do is just add value and customers would come running after you,” she counseled.
