•The CEO Of RIPPLES Kitchen & Events Mgt In IBADAN
Eunice Adeoye is a popular Catering and Events manager in Ibadan. She has just made another giant stride with her business. She has just completed her brand new restaurant in the Bodija area of Ibadan. Eunice Adeoye’s name is synonymous with Catering and Events in that ancient city. That is what she does for a living. She is unarguably one of the biggest and popular players in the event business in the city. She organises some of the best events in town, be it corporate, product launch and owambe.
So big and good has she become that she actually handles many of the big events outside Ibadan. She gets given jobs all over the South West. She not only handles events, but she also does decoration and catering as well. She is an all-rounder.
The big news is that this easy-going lady has just opened a grand restaurant at Bodija in Ibadan. It is a classy restaurant called Ripples Restaurant Celebrity Lounge, opposite Foodco, Bodija in Ibadan. She spoke to City People Publisher SEYE KEHINDE about her success story.
Please introduce yourself
My name is Adeoye Eunice, the CEO of Ripples Kitchen and Event Management. I was born in Niger State. I had my primary education thereafter which I moved to Oyo town, where I had my secondary education at Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo. I was the Assistant Head Girl in the secondary school then, we had a lot of competitions that we represented the school on, which gave us a scholarship during the time of Lam-Adesina and this scholarship actually helped me to get my admission very fast into the University of Ilorin where I studied Computer Science. After my studies I decided to not work for anyone.
Why did you go into Catering & Events?
I just followed my passion, went abroad, took some courses on events planning, and management. And I’ve always loved to cook, I’ve always loved to be creative. I love things being organized, I love when I get to a place, everything is just set. I’m a kind of a person that I can’t stand being in a place and things are not done in the way they should be done. Even if it is not my business, it ends up being my business because I won’t be able to sit down. So with this passion, I was able to do a lot of things for so many people free of charge, and that actually brought out my dreams. It brought out this part that I’m in today. I could remember that in those days when we were in the church and there’s a program to be done, I will always be in the planning committee. I will always volunteer to assist and do all that.
Never did I know that I was actually building up myself for Tomorrow. You know, after getting all those courses that accumulated abroad, I came back and applying it at that time as an Event Planner was not really working because as at then Event Planning was not trending. If you tell them I want to plan the event for you, they will tell you I have an uncle that does it or one of my aunts is doing the planning already. People tend to do it locally, they just do it among themselves. They believe that they are the one that knows their family and they are the one that can plan it better. So it wasn’t really thriving at that time. But all I did was I developed my passion, which is also cooking. At a time, I was doing decoration, at a time I was doing cakes, at a time I was catering, but what I discovered was that among it all, I’ve cut across all the major fields of event planning, which is basically catering, decor and cakes.
But the kitchen aspect actually thrived more for me. Because I can multitask, I do so many things at the same time. It also made me to be very flexible, doing other things. So with my event planning background, I had an outreach of catering and I’m also a planner. So if there is a job that needs to be done, I’m planning the event and my kitchen outfit is working on the catering. I have my team that comes up to work on other things as well.
What are the principles that have helped you?
One thing about me is that I just love to be very reliable, I love to be very dependable. When someone gives me anything to do, I want to make the person proud. And that informed the slogan that I use today, which is “consider it done.” When you come in contact with my brand and you’re giving us anything to do, just go to sleep. You don’t have to bother yourself about how it’s going to be done because you can be so rest assured that everything would just be fine.
I go beyond the demands and the requests of my guests or my clients. If someone is saying, this is what I want, I go back and I do something creative, something that at the end of the day, the clients will be blown away. I’m very selfless and that had helped me to grow so fast in the industry, because when you asked me to do one, I had up to three, four to ensure that everything comes out beautiful. I believe so much in not just working for the money, but I believe that if you are working for value, money will follow you. I’ve always loved to give value to everything that I’m doing.
In the early part of my business, I wasn’t really particular about money. I just wanted to give value, I just wanted to make a difference, I just wanted to do it right. I just wanted to right all the wrongs that I see, and that selflessness actually gave me a lot of recognition. That creativity gave me a little recognition in the industry and some ways somehow, the moment I just do it I’m fulfilled. Initially, money was not coming through. But later on, when I was not even chasing the money, money was now coming. Why? Because Value has been given out. And so for me, it’s more important than any other thing. So, talking about my schooling, I said it earlier on, I studied Computer Science in the University of Ilorin. I grew up in the North, Niger State.
How long have you been in this business?
Okay, so how long have I been in business? Ripples is getting close to 10 years now. I’m sure that during this period of having to grow the business, we had a lot of challenges. We had a lot of stories to tell, and we had a lot of fantastic people that have pushed us through, that have believed in us, and that has made us to be what we want to be. And the truth is that, when I remember those clients, I don’t want to even go back. Because I can’t afford to even look back because they believe so much in the brand. Most of them have become family, most of them have become ambassadors of the brand and that has kept us going.
What was your attraction for going into Events?
So basically what was my attraction to becoming an events planner, to becoming a caterer, to becoming someone that has a catering outfit? My attraction basically is just that I love things to be done right. I love things being organized. I love having to gather people together and everything is like automatic, it’s going step by step. I love it when people are in a gathering and you don’t have to keep wondering who will attend to you or who am I therefor. I just love it when people leave the comfort of their homes and they come out, they should be properly taken care of. Part of my attraction is that it doesn’t have to be because I know you or because I met your face somewhere before you are treated right. For me, the philosophy is in as much as you’re in that room called the event hall or the event gathering field, be in an outdoor, be anywhere, you have let the comfort of your own to come and celebrate someone, you should be celebrated. So it’s informed me about treating everybody as a Queen in my event, treating everybody as a King in my event. And that also leads us to a particular slogan that we also use at Ripples, which is “Happy customer, our pride!” When a customer is happy, that is our pride. I love good food, I love good service, I love good ambiance. When I get to places I love things to be done in the proper way. And one thing about me is I hate lapses to show. I manage crisis. So even if there are lapses or there are things that are not right, that place of the event is not the time start talking about, Oh, this is what this person has done. Let’s cover it up, let’s just get it done.
I’m solution-oriented. When something happens, I just want to think forward, how do we go about this? I don’t believe that something is not possible. “Consider it done,” is the slogan. Either you’re calling us very late in the night, we must be able to move. I believe in selflessness. I believe those are things that actually add up to my goal. I believe in integrity, I believe in excellence, I believe in taking initiative, I believe in selflessness, I believe so much in making customers feel fulfilled.
Tell us about your Vision?
And this also takes me to my Vision. It’s not just about being an event planning company in Africa or Nigeria. I intend to cover the whole world as an event planner with a brand of catering and I look forward to a day that Ripples can become a franchise that people can buy. And another thing for me is, I believe in youths coming up and doing something for themselves. I believe in hard work, I believe in sincerity, I believe so much in being able to stand out when they say that there is no way and you’re making that difference.
What is your advice to young people?
So basically, my advice to young people is that whatever you’re doing, keep doing it well. Don’t give up, giving up is not an option. Forward is the word. And the thing is that you are the only internal engine that can start up yourself to move. No other person can ignite the internal engine that you have inside of you. So before you can even say that you would go forward or you will move, you have to be determined that I want to do this. Once you are determined, you need to be stubborn about it. Because the truth is that if you’re not stubborn about some things, you will never achieve it. Because typically everything would tell you that it’s not possible. Everything would tell you that it’s not going to work. You will see situations that will be like, “Oh, this cannot work. How will it work? Nobody has done it before. How’s it going to be possible?” But it’s when you’re positive minded and you’re oriented that you can do it, even when everything around it tells you that it’s not possible because you are determined in your mind, you keep going after it and before you know it, you keep making that difference. I love to stand out, I love to be unique in my own ways, I love to be very creative at whatever I’m doing.
How do you get inspiration?
Ever since I started my business, I get a lot of aspirations that drop in my mind every time. I don’t believe in having to like, “Oh, let me go spy on someone before I do something.” When I have something to be done, I take my time to get inspiration. And the moment I get that inspiration, I move with that inspiration. So for me, every event is a project on its own. It is not what I have been doing before. I could have done it some ways somehow in another place before, but for every new day in my event world, it should be for my client a new experience. Because one thing about me is, I just want to bring something new to the table, that would make whoever that is paying for my service to get an added value for their service.
I believe so much in teamwork. I believe so much in carrying everybody along, and I believe so much in putting people in the places of their strength. I have worked with a lot of workforce of staff. And one thing that has helped me to strive in their management is, I try as much as possible to identify everybody’s strength. And so many may come in today as maybe an HR person or the person might come in as a cook. I might discover that this person has strength in something else. I won’t say because that was what the person came in for, I will now leave the person like that. Rather, I will put the person in their comfort zone, their area of strength, and before you know it, the person performs excellently well. I love to drive my people, I love to drive my team, and for me that is it. A driven team will always get a clear direction because they have someone that they are looking up to. And it is written clearly on the wall where we are going, everybody runs with that vision.
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