Can you take a 70% pay cut to devote your time to building a business from scratch? Maybe not! But it is thanks to Ebele Enunwa, a man who was able to brave this decision that we now have two large and successful homegrown Nigerian brands.
Ebele Enunwa is both the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sundry Foods Ltd and Sundry Markets Ltd, providing employment to thousands of Nigerians and generating millions of dollars in revenue, every year. And by the sheer efforts of people like him, the retail and food space has been reshaped from the early 2000s, when foreign brands held sway in the Nigerian market.
Today, there are several wholly Nigerian brands commanding enviable portions of the market and redefining the shopping experience for Nigerians.
One such brand is Sundry Foods, owners of Market Square, a fast-growing retail shopping chain in Nigeria.
Birth, education and career life
Ebele Emmanuel Enunwa was born on 17th August 1976, the first of three children born to an Accountant father, and a nurse mother. Though natives of Delta state, the family was based in Lagos state and this was where he was raised.
From his early years, he so much admired his parents that his choice of career was going to be ordered in one of their footsteps.
- “My father was a strong influence on me because he was someone I admired greatly, and I wanted to be like him. That’s how I ended up being an accountant.
- Although at some point, there was a conflict in my head as to whether I wanted to be an accountant like my father, or a medical doctor to follow my mother’s footsteps.
- When I found out that I had to spend 7 years in medical school to become a doctor, I decided that there had to be faster ways to make money” Enunwa recounted at a conference in 2021.
After his primary education in Lagos, he went to Jos where he attended the Airforce Military School, Jos, Nigeria.
After his Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), he proceeded to the University of Ilorin, Kwara State where he bagged his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)
Ebele’s career started in 1998 with Nigeria’s foremost accounting and professional services firm Deloitte, Lagos as a Graduate Internship Associate, where he spent his entire NYSC year supporting the senior staff to provide Business Assurance services to clients.
By July 1999, he completed his service year and joined Stanbic IBTC, the premier investment bank in Nigeria in September.
Among other things, he served as Regional Manager for the South-South and South-East regions.
He serviced several of Nigeria’s leading multinationals and was involved in several capital market transactions and privatization mandates.
The job took him to Port Harcourt, where observed some things in his environment that convinced him that the time could be ripe to start a business.
He stayed with Stanbic IBTC till December 2004, when he finally took the leap of faith.
Taking a 70% pay cut to become an entrepreneur
On moving to Port Harcourt as a regional manager with Stanbic IBTC, Mr Enunwa found the city to be lacking in sufficient fast food options.
There was just one major brand – Mr Biggs, and other smaller brands. And with his experiences, it did not seem to him that these brands could satisfy customer needs in the city.
- “I moved to Port Harcourt as a banker and at the time, there was only Mr Biggs and another smaller brand Kingfisher operating in the fast food business.
- Particularly on festive days, there were always long queues. There was a Valentine’s Day I went there, and the queue went all the way from the counter, out of the door up to Rumuola roundabout.
- It was clear to me that the people in the city were not being offered the best service, but beyond that, the existing businesses did not have sufficient capacity to meet the needs of Port Harcourt.
- So, we thought we needed to get into the space so that we can provide a better product, better service and give customers options” he narrated.
As a banker who was already somewhere up the ladder, Enunwa was well paid and leaving the job to go start a business was equivalent to taking a 70% pay cut in his monthly salary, but he would not be deterred so he went ahead.
Sundry Foods Limited was incorporated in 2003 and opened its doors for business in September 2004.
From the word go, Ebele Enunwa doubled as Founder and Chief Executive to get the business off the ground.
He raised capital through equity and debt and was able to develop a chain of retail food service outlets including Kilimanjaro, Nibbles Bread, Pizza Jungle, Kili grills, and SFS – an industrial and events catering service provider. The business has over 100 outlets and employs thousands of staff across these outlets.
Now into the retail shopping space
In 2015, Ebele Enunwa started another business – Sundry Markets Limited. This was to be the umbrella brand to pursue a new vision of redefining the shopping experience for Nigerians.
- “From our times of growing up, we have always had to go to the markets to buy anything we need and these markets are often not in the best of hygiene conditions, neither is there any guarantee on quality.
- Sundry Markets Limited is the vehicle for us to redefine this experience for Nigerians so that they can shop for groceries and home supplies in a clean Marketplace where quality is guaranteed” he said.
From a single store in 2015, Marketsquare started providing a wide variety of prepared and packed food, fresh bakes, fresh produce, groceries, wines & spirits, toiletries, baby products and small domestic appliances, to serve the daily needs of individuals, households and corporate organisations.
- “Established in 2015, Marketsquare offers a fulfilling shopping experience providing a wide variety of products and a delightful selection of sensations with everything within reach.
- The tagline – find more, pay less – is a promise of our unwavering desire to get the best quality products to the customer at the lowest prices we can find,’ the website reads.
As Founder and CEO of Sundry Markets, Enunwa oversees strategy formulation, business planning and execution for Market Square, and is now building what he hopes will become ‘Nigeria’s largest modern grocery retail chain’ by 2025.
More about Ebele Emmanuel Enunwa
Mr Enunwa is a Member of the Institute of Directors, Nigeria (IoD). He has been conferred with the Development In Nigeria Merit Award, in recognition of his contribution to national development in the area of Food, Catering and Restaurant Services.
He has served as Non-Executive Chairman of OneWildcard Nigeria, since 2016. Enunwa is also a Non-Executive Director, at International Gaming and Entertainment Limited (Megamillions Naija).
