THE RELUCTANT RESTAURATEUR

OLUSHOLA MEDUPIN WANTED TO STAY AWAY FROM THE FOOD BUSINESS BUT NOW HAS A GROWING ARRAY OF UPSCALE RESTAURANTS SELLING WEST AFRICAN CUISINE IN SOME OF THE WORLD'S MOST DAZZLING CITIES.

- Peace Hyde

For Olushola Medupin, his passion for food was a gift passed down generations, like a prized heirloom. His mother ran one of the most successful restaurants in Kwara State in Western Nigeria, and before her, his grandparents too ran their own local outlets selling inexpensive, pre-cooked food to hungry customers.

Cooking, literally, is in his blood. "My mother was in the restaurant, cooking, when she had to rush to the hospital to give birth to me," says Medupin. "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." That was his world growing up.

Food was such an integral part of the family dynamics that all five children competed as cooks and Medupin always won. From the tender age of five, he knew his way around the kitchen, mastering local dishes such as jollof rice, eba (made from dried cassava flakes) and pounded yam.

In addition to his natural affinity for the culinary arts, Medupin also discovered he had a passion for making money.

In 1991, when his father traveled to India for six months and forgot to leave his cheque book at home, Medupin’s mother struggled to make ends meet. He helped by climbing orange trees and selling the fruit in the market. By the time he was 14, he was already a serial entrepreneur, renting out his BMX bicycle for transportation in the local markets, managing a rubbish collection business, an internet business, a supermarket and a phone repair business.