As a child, Jadesola Shawana was your go-to-girl for selling anything from sweets to fabrics and any assortment of goods. Doing business runs in the blood; her parents were entrepreneurs, her siblings too are into entrepreneurship.
Jadesola, lawyer and CEO of TOSH Coconut had a good start, combining her business and law practice, until she got pregnant for her first child; her business and career came to a halt. “When I had my baby, it was really difficult balancing work and being a mother, so I left my job and stayed at home to take care of my baby, that was the point that I started thinking of business”.
Jadesola admits it was not an easy transition; she had to structure her business and invest more time in the new enterprise. “I had a lot of family support at home, which is why I could jostle between my business and my law practice”.
TOSH Coconut was a child of necessity; after giving birth to her second child, Jadesola began to gain excessive weight; desperate to keep her weight under control, she began to research into low carbohydrate food. “I discovered that coconut flour is rich in fiber and low in carbohydrate, I began to experiment with coconut oil and coconut flour which were not common in Nigeria. I brought some from the UK and when it got exhausted I started thinking about making it in Nigeria”.
Her first post on her Instagram business page went viral: “I remember when I posted on the Instagram that I made this coconut flour and cold pressed coconut oil, I started getting a lot of enquiries from people asking me to make some for them. That was how the business started in 2016”.
The business which began in her kitchen with only 10 piece of crushed coconut scaled to more than 500 crushed coconuts daily and 15 product. “We have grown without any support from government, in terms of loans or grants, we have applied for some State grants but we haven’t received any support from government, we have gotten to where we are through savings, a woman’s life is challenging, peculiar challenges that men do not necessarily face, as a woman you are encouraged to have a responsible life” Jadesola admits the business environment in Nigeria tilts in favour of the male business owners, whether in terms of accessing loans and benefitting from government programmes.
Business was good, until COVID 19. “COVID 19 was the most difficult period in my business, everything plunged, people were more concerned about their safety than any other thing, and it was a very depressing moment.” Thankfully, TOSH Coconut survived the impact of COVID 19: “we are back and doing better now” Jadesola quips.
