Dare to succeed: How Nigeria’s queen of Moi-Moi dazzled Port Harcourt
Nigeria’s Queen of Moi-Moi is Lagos-based Ayodeji Megbope, a diploma holder who worked for many years at a highbrow school in Lagos only to resign to ponder what next after a life without tangible fruits. Her story of hunger pangs and how she rushed to use her last N1000 to prepare ‘Moi-Moi’ for sale (and had to defy shame to go back to the gates of same school to stand to sell) shakes the world.
The story has been told in the topmost business circles and won her a handshake with the likes of Warren Buffet, around ancient cities like Turkey, and in the topmost political and administrative hubs like Washington where she shook hands with the likes of Michelle Obama. Ayo, as she is popularly called around the world is today the CEO of a multi-million business empire that still runs on Moi-Moi as core product, selling over 200 packs (10 in a pack) at N2000 per pack per day. She came to the Garden City in her capacity as CEO of No Left-Overs Nigeria Limited and as a motivational speaker that pushes women out of their comfort zones or out of self-pity to dare to succeed.
Women, youths as well as widows who were brought together by Fresh View Empowerment Initiative founded and run by a widow and entrepreneur, Eugenia Marcus, applauded to no end as Ayo was ushered onto the stage in the D-Line section of Port Harcourt.
Ayo, who will turn 50 this year but looks 38, thrilled the audience after her profile was read. She queued in smoothly with; “I just listened to my profile being read here to usher me on stage. I used to cry when profiles of successful men and women were being read some years ago. I was just a secretary, the secretary to somebody, arranging things, doing everything for some other person. I felt like a slave. Now, I realize that God has a definite plan for every person, as long as He has brought me from such level to where I am today. People are made to lift people up, just as Eugenia (of Fresh View, CEO of Tuffles) is made to lift up widows. Life is like a school, there is a day for examination. The one that sets the questions is looking for something in you. The one that set the questions in your life is looking for something.”
She went on: “As a growing girl-child, I was always looking in the mirror, always taking a newspaper and be looking at myself in the mirror. My mother would come from behind and spank me. As a girl-child, I suffered abuse in the home by those close. I did not know how to cry out because my parents could ask, why you. I faced humiliation, and I was different. Joseph had a dream but suffered limitations. I had to fight my way from this situation up.”
As the audience hungry for breakthrough sat up, the Queen of Moi-Moi urged them to start by thanking God for what they already had but may not regard. “What you are or what you have that others don’t have; it could be your life, your height, your colour, even some education. Then, expand from there. Start from your point of advantage, whatever it is.”
Next, she said; “Cry and tell God, this is not enough, but try not to be ungrateful. Develop a continuous hunger for the next level, no matter where you are now. Search for your gifts, which is your capital. Many underrate their gifts. Look, any gift you abandon will die; it will abandon you. If you use it, it will appreciate. Keep learning. My old father is still challenging me to send him materials to study.”
It was getting difficult now but the CEO of No Left-Overs demanded more now; “Quit your comfort zone. The time to prepare for war is in peace time, never in the war. Know that most things we cherish are no destinies. Getting married is not the end of destiny; having children is not, because there are those married or having children that have not found fulfillment. Find your purpose because purpose is everything. Seek your plan, purse in life. That is what I did. I resigned as a secretary and thought for my self, my life.”
On discomfort, she said it could be the way God is summoning you to make a move. “When you feel discomfort, God is speaking. I am not saying people should go and resign on Monday. There is time for everything. Don’t blame your discomfort on others, think about it; listen to the inner voice about that discomfort. It is time for a shift. People hardly see it, but pray that you don’t move away when your meal is to come. Many make that mistake, too. Learn to know the set time. Connect with the Owner of Time. Remember the children of Issachar who knew the signs and times. Discover yourself from yourself. I weep for the children of toady because they are always on social media. They just keep viewing what others are doing.”
Megbope asked the audience of anyone traveling on the ‘Devil’s Ticket’ should expect to find Jesus at the airport of life. “Prepare for that one day; prepare for it everyday. Many miss it. My day came when I was in tears. It was when a meal was not in sight. Did I just mention “Meals?’ Yes, meals. It connected. No meals; many have no meals. So, the connection is, provide meals to people for a fee. That led to the Moi-Moi concept, a meal for a fee, small fee. It brought huge success and opened the way to more.”
She said if you succeed, its not just about you, its about your generation. “What legacy are you building to affect others? The day there was no food in the house; I made Moi-Moi with my last N1000 for sale. God then told me to take it to the school (Corona) where I worked as secretary. Shame upon shame, but I broke through it. Don’t allow anybody to place a value on you. See how that Moi-Moi has taken me round the world, up to the White House. First principle in business: learn to define what gratification means in your business. I recorded success there, but that should not be all. Selling in front of Corona made me to ask, what next?”
The Queen of Moi-Moi said surely there are ‘Destiny Helpers’. “A rich woman met me at the Moi-Moi place and asked if I could cater for her oil company. She asked; can you do afam soup? I said yes, even without thinking. Learn to recognize Destiny Helpers, humble yourself to recognize and attract them. Don’t look only up or level. Your destiny helper can be down; a maid, a trader, a small person. They can give you the link that can change your destiny. I went to the market to scan for help. I saw a woman selling vegetables and other things. She did not look like the solution to my problem but she ended up being one. I asked her if she knew how to cook afam. She asked some questions, thinking I was married to a man from that side of the country and afam soup must be giving my marriage threats. She asked me, do you have paper and pen? I sat down and wrote as she spoke, step by step.”
In business, she warned, we should never injure our destiny helpers. “That is how I began to sell from gate of a school to an air-conditioned office. I still asked, what next? The Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) came up. Before now, I had lost self-confidence. I would say, common Moi-Moi seller, why should I step out? When you accept local destiny helpers, international destiny helpers would come. The American people came and listened to various businesses by the students at the EDC; they listened to my story that looked foolish. It pleased God to choose Moi-Moi business to wow the Americans. It’s amazing; of all the other big businesses.”
Megbope admonished successful persons to know that it is easy to forget where they were coming from. “From the American delegation liking my business story, they wanted to come and see my base. I said, I have no office oh, it’s my kitchen that is my own office. This seemed to fascinate them the more. That’s how help came to open an office in the form of a restaurant, etc.” Loans and grants and opportunities came her way; the Moi-Moi seller.
She however wants her followers to learn to work and pray. “I will never forget the day I stood and shook hands with President Barrack Obama. Today, Warren Buffet mentions my name. He said to me; I am amazed by you. Michelle Obama said to me, I am proud of you.” She said it could only be God.
Also; “Be careful in what you choose to do. Let it not be one moment of fame, and eternity in shame”, talking about those who commit atrocities just to make it big, or those who cheat and cut corners.
She went on: “My testimony: When my son was sent out of school at 200 level, a class he was even repeating, it was too painful. Now, he is abroad, leading others in class, being made team leader here and there, earning fee slash. He wrote home last two weeks to say, I see God in you. It’s a story of N1000 to 50 staff. The business can run without me there on daily basis. I just called home and my daughter told me yesterday what they sold.”
On business and Christianity, she advised that born again Christians should do business with Christian principles and not abandon business to others the way they abandoned politics to bad people and turn round to suffer today. “Strive to get your business to where it can run without you. Moi-Moi remains my main stay”.
Ayo fielded questions but her host, Eugenia Marcus, urged all women to follow her steps and break out of bondage and self-pity through entrepreneurship. She said Fresh view teaches women to interact, learn and develop something. She said more motivators would be brought from around the world to show that no woman should remain entrapped due to limitations. She added thus; “Time is a currency, we must it much in Nigeria in the name of African Time. Time lost cannot be recovered. Just as same person can gather money and throw it away, no sane person should waste time. A woman must step out of her comfort zone, only then can she conquer. Don’t allow your fears or situation to define you. Don’t dwell on such lacks as lack of spouse, lack of money, lack of job or lack of education or sponsor to decide for you. Push out.”
Profile of the Queen of Moi-Moi
Ayodeji Mogbope, CEO of No Left Overs Nigeria Limited. The business is a full scale catering outfit which started with a takeoff capital of N1,000 in 2007 with the sale of local bean cakes known as “moin-moin” but has grown the business into what today has an annual turn-over that runs into millions of Naira.
Ayo was one of the first women worldwide to benefit from the 10,000 Women Initiative sponsored by Goldman Sachs- a programme set up to empower 10,000 underserved women worldwide with formal business skills and education.
Today she is an ambassador of the 10,000 Women Initiative; she has graced numerous local and international platforms and thus become an inspiration to many. She was a speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York with world leaders in attendance and has also addressed the Annual General Meeting of Goldman Sachs in New York both in 2009.
In December 2011, Ayo was invited by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey for the Second Global Summit on Entrepreneurship to speak on the panel session titled “Global Entrepreneurship Revolution. In April 2013, she was one of the three women nominated to represent Nigeria in the Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Programme – a partnership which connects talented, emerging women leaders from all over the world with members of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Leaders for a month-long internship programme in the U.S. In March 2014, Ayo was invited to speak at the White House in celebration of International Women’s Day.
In June 2016, Ayo was invited as a Panelist at the United State of Women Conference Summit where she spoke alongside Warren Buffet on her journey as an Entrepreneur. She was also privileged to deliver an address at a State House Dinner in Washington DC where she welcomed the then First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama.
Ayo is a graduate of the Enterprise for Development Centre (EDC) where she completed her Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management program. She is also a graduate of the Manchester Business School where she earned a Diploma in Business Administration. She is committed to spreading and sharing the importance of women empowerment and inspire others on the possibilities and advantages of starting small and growing big. Ayo continues to grow No Left-Overs. She is happily married and blessed with two children.
She shook the Garden City to its foundations.
Ignatius Chukwu