From Humble Beginnings to Business Expansion

Starting in 2012, Afamefuna learned the art of baking and initially catered to his church community, creating cakes for Sunday school children. Encouraged by positive feedback, he soon began receiving orders for birthday cakes and other celebratory treats, which laid the foundation for his business.

Evolution of Speedmeals

Today, Speedmeals has grown beyond a bakery to encompass a diverse range of services under its umbrella. It manufactures spices and offers comprehensive hospitality solutions, including restaurant and hotel setup, event catering, culinary training, and consultancy for start-up catering enterprises aiming to scale.

Impact: Jobs Created and Revenue Growth

Before his participation in the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Programme, Afamefuna operated with just an idea and no employees. Thanks to the support received, he now employs a dedicated team of 75-80 individuals.

Receiving a TEF seed capital of US $5,000 was pivotal in establishing Speedmeals’ first store. Today, the company boasts an impressive annual revenue of £100,000,000, illustrating significant growth and sustainability in the competitive food industry.

Overcoming Challenges and Seizing Opportunities

The COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges for many businesses, but for Speedmeals, it became a catalyst for innovation. Diversifying into meal kit production allowed the business to adapt and thrive during uncertain times, demonstrating resilience and foresight in business strategy.

Milestones and Recognition

Speedmeals’ success story includes recognition through strategic partnerships, such as the Foundation’s collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). Through the Export Expansion Facility Programme (EEFP), Speedmeals has tapped into a £400 million initiative aimed at enhancing the performance of TEF Entrepreneurs within Nigeria’s non-oil export sector.

Join Speedmeals on their Journey

Witness firsthand how Afamefuna’s entrepreneurial spirit and strategic decisions have propelled Speedmeals to become a leading player in Africa’s food industry. Stay updated on their achievements and explore opportunities to collaborate or learn from their journey. Watch the Video below;

The post Why Entrepreneurship? The Inspiring Journey of Afamefuna and Speedmeals appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Recent estimates show that about 88% of all flowering plants and 35% of the global plant-based food supply rely on pollinators to be successful. Pollination is a vital ecological service provided by a wide range of insect species including bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, beetles, and moths.  

With a strong belief in transforming the rural landscape into business empires, Olumide Ogunbanjo offers farmers free beehives on their farms to help improve the yield of grown fruits and vegetables by using the honeybees as pollinators. 

“I grew up as a farm boy in the ancient town of Iseyin, Oyo State, my parent were peasant farmers, and they could hardly take care of me and my siblings.  I had dreams of studying agriculture and returning to the farmlands to create wealth for the farming populace. I have a strong belief that I could be the agent of change in transforming the rural landscape into business empire.” 

From the initial seed fund, he got through the TEF entrepreneurship program, he expanded a single bee farm into a group of “outsourced bee farms.”, created a new business model, “Pollination as a Service (PaaS), invented and patented a Smart Beehive and rebranded as AgroData.  

He currently provides direct full-time employment to 11 and part-time jobs to 27 with operates across Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Abuja, Dakar, and Senegal, and has a generated a total revenue of $46,700 till date.  

“TEF was the initial seed fund we got in the very 1st edition in 2015. We were basically beekeepers at that time, producing FRESHDEW BEE HONEY.  The $5000 enabled us to expand a single bee farm into a group of “outsourced bee farms”.  The expansion gave us a clue about the communal effects of having bees on the farms.  We created a new biz model ” Pollination as a Service (PaaS), invented and patented a Smart Beehive and rebranded as AgroData.” 

From the support through the TEF program, his company has been nominated for several awards and fellowships programs and positively impacted the lives of over 21,000 rural dwellers.  

About The Tony Elumelu Foundation

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post Success Story of Olamide, 2015 TEF Alumni in Agriculture Sector appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Oluwaseyi Akanbi took the initiative to change the narrative of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, drainages, and roads in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria by establishing his waste management company Zero-Waste Management Konsult.

“I am motivated to be an entrepreneur today because of the need to solve environmental problems, creating jobs for unemployed youth populations and to be financially independent.“

He offers waste bins to the Keffi community through his company to curb the menace caused by the indiscriminate dumping of refuse. He collects this waste weekly from individual premises, sorting, processing the recyclable waste materials, and disposing of non-recyclable materials for farmers as fertilizers.

“My business is changing the attitude of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, drainages, uncompleted buildings and even on roads by the citizens in my community.”

His business generates USD 550 every month. With the collaboration of the Nasarawa State Waste Management Bureau (NASWAMB), the agency in charge of waste management in Nasarawa state, he has acquired up to 180 customers with a team of 8, which he currently employs. More than 20,000 people have access to a clean, safe, and healthy environment through his intervention and the support he got through the TEF entrepreneurship program.

“Through TEF entrepreneurship program, my business has been standardized through the training I have received and also the networking opportunity I have been exposed to.”

About The Tony Elumelu Foundation


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post MEET 2017 TEF ALUMNI, OLUWASEYI AKANBI WHO RUNS BUSINESS IN THE WASTE MANAGEMENT SECTOR appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.