Cooking is in the blood of Olushola Medupin. He grew up in a home where his mother owned a restaurant, and before her, his grandparents also owned a food business.
“My mother was in the restaurant, cooking, when she had to rush to the hospital to give birth to me,” Medupin told Forbes Africa. “The only life I knew from a young age was to go to school, and from there, the driver would bring me to the restaurant because there was nobody at home. I was forced to stay in the restaurant all day.”
At the age of five, Medupin could prepare local dishes such as jollof rice, eba (made from dried cassava flakes), and pounded yam. By age 14, he was already into entrepreneurship, renting out his BMX bicycle for transportation in the local markets, managing a rub-bish collection business, an internet business, a supermarket, and a phone repair business, as per Forbes Africa.
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He also went into the car business, which was his last business before he moved to the U.K. to continue his education, where he studied investment banking and securities. However, upon completion, he was only getting kitchen gigs.
“I wasn’t getting any major jobs apart from kitchen jobs in the U.K. In 2009, I said to myself ‘I am not working in the kitchen anymore’ and started a security job in Cardiff.”
After working a security job in Cardiff for some time, he decided to quit and look elsewhere for inspiration, moving further away from the restaurant business.
“It is a very hard industry to be in. You go through a lot of emotional trauma because you must put your heart and soul in the business. If people are not happy with the food, they tell you off straight away and when they do that, it gets to you. So, I didn’t want to do it again,” said Medupin.
Despite fighting the idea of establishing a restaurant business, it was the only viable option before him. He moved to London from Cardiff, rented a place in Lewisham, and started his first outlet. It was initially tough, but he made it work.
“In my first year, I wanted to sell the business. The guy who wanted to buy it from me offered me $375,400 and at the last minute, offered me $188,000 to still run it. It was a struggle initially, but we decided to push through,” said Medupin.
Today, Medupin is a certified restaurateur with 13 fine dining restaurants, branded Enish, spread across London, the U.S. and Dubai. In Dubai, his restaurant, The Dwntwn By Enish, is located near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower.
