Doyin Bakare: Accountant who abandoned spreadsheet for meat shop

Doyin Bakare, founder of 1607 Events, a full service start-up that provides event management and allied services. Doyin had been in accounting profession for nearly a decade, specialising in tax consulting, before setting up her own enterprise.
She resigned from an accounting firm and set up the events management outfit which she runs with her husband. Recently the start-up ventured into supply of fresh meat and poultry to customers in Lagos, based on the discovery that her customers would feel less stressed if they could get all the necessary services under one roof – events management and catering, amongst others.
The Meat Shop was born out of passion, and it is becoming the fastest growing part of the enterprise.
“I have always had a passion for marketing products and people have commended me a lot for it, so I decided to turn it into a full-fledged business which I am passionate about. So I asked myself, what is one thing people could use their last money to buy? It clicked: Food. So I decided to start something around that,” said Bakare.
“I decided to create 1607 Foods and Events Management and when I discovered the need for meat and poultry, I began to run the meat shop, then a fish shop and a pepper avenue. People are so busy now. Even going to the market is challenging sometimes, hence we thought it would be good to take the stress off them by offering them fresh meat and poultry,” she further stated.
There have been concerns about meat slaughtered in abattoirs in Lagos due to the unsanitary environment they are carried out. With only few sanitary inspectors in the largest abattoirs in Lagos, unhealthy practices thrive. Sick and dead animals are killed and sold, many butchered close to open drainages.

Bakare’s Meat Shop removes this concern from her customers. “My husband who is the operational manager, sources the animals from the north. We employ meat butchers to cut the meat in our own well maintained environment. The meat is packaged based on orders received from customers and they are delivered to their homes or taken to those planning events. We also take orders relating to other food items,” said the entrepreneur.
Marketing is done mostly through social media applications especially on Whatsapp. Since it is a growing customer base, Bakare said she strives to meet the orders the same day which is quite challenging, given the logistical nightmare Lagos can present. At times customers are paired, a ram is killed and shared among say, six people, which is done mostly on weekends.
Bakare says there or more goats are killed each week depending on the demand and a cow is shared among 15 people. She said cows are not in as much high demand as goats and poultry.

What impact has her accounting knowledge had on the business? “As an accountant, it has made it easier to work with numbers and carry out financial planning. It’s also easier to allocate and manage scarce resources to achieve optimal benefit,” said Bakare.

Josephine Okojie