Ogubere Ethel Oreva

Ogubere Ethel Oreva is a serial entrepreneur and a graduate of Economics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.

Right from her University days, she has always had the entrepreneurial spirit and a strong conviction of impacting her immediate community. Apart from being a serial entrepreneur, Ethel has a blend of corporate experience, having worked in the finance department of an oil and gas firm. This has taught her how organisations work and function, and hands-on financial structure experience, valuable lessons, she still carries with her.

Popularly dubbed the Queen of Breakfast, Ethel is the founder of Brittany’s Place Limited, an indigenous catering service firm, with a specialty in providing crepes, waffles and pancake dishes among others. Their meals cater to the busy individuals of metropolitan cities and also schools, churches, weddings and a various range of events. Ethel is also currently a Director in Gidi Janitors Nigeria Limited, a leading Janitorial service firm in Nigeria and also a Director in Aurelia’s basket, a luxury gift service firm in Nigeria.

What problem does your company solve?
With the evolving fast-paced life of the young Nigerian professional, laced with various difficulties that makes daily living a challenge, you find that out of home food consumption becomes more the norm than the exception. The realisation and awareness that breakfast is a very important meal (if not the most important meal of the day) is on the rise. However, commensurate ability to get good quality meal options that are both qualitative and affordable is quite difficult – this is a void that we find ourselves well equipped to fill and it’s a void we are filling and increasing capacity and efficiency to fill even more. We like to see ourselves as a company that helps improve human productivity daily.

What would you say are the top-three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Commitment. Consistency. Value addition.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?
Some of my failures from a business perspective are the slow pace of meeting my strategic goals for Brittany’s Place Limited -what I have learnt from this is that failure itself is not a bad thing, but a learning process that tells me every achievement is a step-by-step process.

How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
For as long as I have not exhausted all the possible initiatives to make an idea come to life and thrive, I do not give up.

How many hours do you work a day on average?
17 hours on the average

What motivates you?
A good customer feedback is a high motivating factor for me, and an uncanny belief that if an idea is properly planned, it can be turned into a functioning activity. I am also motivated when I read success stories of other young entrepreneurs.

How do you generate new ideas?
I have a natural thirst for knowledge, and an equally deep need to try out new things. My willingness to continually innovate helps generate the ideas you see in our amazing recipes. Satisfying needs and delightfully engaging consumers drives me.

What is your greatest challenge, and how do you manage it?
As of today, the rising operational cost and fragile logistics infrastructure… these challenges are quite difficult to manage. But by consistently focusing on improving efficiency and leveraging scale, I get by.

What are your ideals?
My driving ideals are what I learnt from my family as a young child and which I carry with me till today-Determination. Endurance. Focus.

How do you define success?
To me success is when I harness my passion and skills into my business, and get a positive response and feedback from both my clients and staffs. To me, that’s success.

Where did your organization’s funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?
Savings. I followed the typical entrepreneurial route, most of my seed money came from savings, but there were other forms of capital, especially the ones I would term emotional capital which came from immediate family especially my parents in terms of encouragement also friends that were strategists, accountants, lawyers etc that gave advice on the business structure and model

How do you build a successful customer base?
It’s all about my customers/consumers, delivering on your promise and being obsessed with delighting my consumers I suspect are the foundational ingredients – communication and amplification of my brand helps spread the message.

How did you decide on the location for your business?
Practicality, ease and viability

What book has inspired you the most?
A tough choice between Rich Dad, Poor Dad and The richest man in Babylon.