HOW WE STARTED THE BEST AFRICAN RESTAURANT IN INDIA

In 2011, I left Nigeria for India to further a study in Photography in one of the numerous film schools in the capital, New Delhi. As a custome to most Nigerians studying abroad , we always like to combine some works with our studies. So I travelled with the intention of securing a job to combine with my studies which lasts for one year out of which six months must be used for classroom works while the remaining six months must be used for practical.
My major concerns though was how best to utilize my time while in India and make some money out of it too. I made a lot of efforts to secure decent jobs that could engage me during that six months but none could work out because of my visa status (student's visa) which does not allow me to work in that country. I got very good job offers from the Red Cross, Canadian High Commission and Convergys ( an American outsourcing company) with strong recommendations from friends. Each time I go for preliminary discussion, they always referred me back to my visa status. This situation made me very sad and my options of doing a decent job was seriously dwindling. Already, I had a very big pressure from the Nigerian internet scammers who needed someone with my educational qualifications and skills to help perfect their schemes. That path I had decided never to follow in the course of my life.
Then one day towards the Christmas of that year, a Nigerian friend came to my school to visit. He tabled the proposal of starting an African restaurant before me. Even though I did not liked the idea, but I accepted it since there were no alternatives. In fact I started factoring out how I would adjust into such job. He already had a lot of experience in the business as that was his current job at the time, for he was assisting one of his friends in his African Restaurant. Now he wants to start his own and wants me to be his partner. I reluctantly agreed since all my options were consistently being punctured by my visa status.
We finally started out in March of 2012 when he resigned from his job and I was free from school. We started our operations at home since we didn't have enough fund to rent a shop. We were mostly running home delivery service which was more convenient to us and our clients. However since there were some few established restaurants around our area, we then were faced with very stiff competition which drained our startup capital within the same month. We were confronted with the threat of not just losing our source of livelihood but also of our survival. One day we decided to change our strategy by trying out the hospitals where Nigerians come for medical treatment. Immediately we arrived there, it was just obvious to us that we had hit a gold mine as Nigerians were just found everywhere in the hospital and were ready for our services. In fact we got our first orders same day and we also struck some deals with the officials of the hospital which led us to relocate to the hotel where those Nigerians stay. That was the real birth of Mama Afrika Restaurant, New Delhi. For detail go to: https://philipsakwari.com.ng/2016/03/15/how-we-started-the-best-african-restaurant-in-india/