Shawarma.com

A lot of young Nigerians today are fast seeing the need to be more than just another face in the crowd. They are slowly beginning to realize that the usual 9-5 is not the beginning and the end after attaining a degree. These realizations are slowly bringing about the birth of extensive entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

While surfing the net on my usual quest for inspiration, I stumbled across a business name I had heard so much about, "Sharwarma.com". Upon research, I came across articles and interviews on and about Kayode Oluwamotemi, the 26 year old who owns and established Sharwarma.com.

He studied Electrical Electronics Engineering at Covenant University Ota, and even while in school, was convinced he did not want to work for anyone. Even though he wasn't certain what he wanted to do with his life as at then, he took the advise of his vice chancellor, Bishop David Oyedepo and resolved to be a job creator, and not a job seeker.

In an interview with Motunrayo Joel, he explained what he thinks is the most important reason for his success as 'the fact that he chose to be different'. Upon graduation, Kayode got to thinking on what he could become a part of. When he settled on cooking and Baking, he decided against going into 'the regular business where big names like KFC, Barcelos,' were already dominating.

He opted to make his brand different and came up with 'Sharwarma.com' - and all he had to do was 'change the regular look of the sharwarma joint by making it more appealing and combining it with a mini lounge where customers can watch football, chill and listen to good music under a conducive environment'.

Currently, Kayode has opened two more branches and they are both doing excellently.

On his advise to unemployed university graduates, he advises to "try to start something, no matter how small." he goes ahead to encourage youths to 'do what they will enjoy', and not just something everyone is doing, but 'should rather be innovative and different in a positive way.'

Perhaps the advise that most Nigerian students and graduates alike should relate to is that 'everything is not about oil and gas'. He points out the fact that working in an oil company is not the crux of life, as not everyone would get such opportunities.

"All people need to do is identify a need: what people really want and try to provide it for them and get paid for it".