How She Built a Successful Cookie Business from Scratch | Debby Lawson with TriciaBiz

In this video, TriciaBiz interviews Deborah 'Debby' Lawson, an engineer turned entrepreneur, who built her cookie business from scratch and now runs one of Nigeria’s fastest growing indigenous FMCG companies. Debby tells the story of how she started with just 960 Naira in her kitchen and how she and her husband have created several successful cookie brands that are dominating the Nigerian market today.

After watching this video, you'll learn about the importance of leveraging your natural talents, following your passion, and having a strong "Why." You'll also learn about the importance of partnerships in business, especially if you are thinking about how to start a cookie business from home.

This interview was sponsored by Traction Apps. Sign up with Traction Apps today - https://web.tractionapps.co/#/signup?...


CHAPTERS

00:00 - Intro
01:13 - How Debbie grew up
04:13 - Why baking
06:02 - How Fastizers started
10:45 - The best way to start a business
12:29 - What to do when no one wants to mentor you
14:17 - Fastizers' first distribution strategy
19:33 - Moving to a bigger space and sourcing funds
21:31 - Expanding Fastizers' distribution network
22:24 - Going from retailers to distributors
27:07 - Moving to the 2 acre factory
29:01 - Quality control
29:58 - How to manage a large team
31:11 - When Debbie's husband joined the business
33:37 - How to do business with your spouse or family member
35:23 - Staying profitable in this trying economy
38:20 - Profit margin tip for upcoming manufacturers
38:55 - Dealing with failed products
40:30 - How to deal with discouragement
42:51 - Advice to struggling entrepreneurs


ABOUT THE SHOW🎬

"HOW THEY DID IT" a show that tells the authentic story of African businesses whilst drawing lessons for upcoming entrepreneurs.

The Challenge:
There is a growing demand to tell our stories. Most of the stories told online are of foreign businesses, and where you find an African story, it is most likely a surface-level interview that aims mostly to motivate and not necessarily teach.

This is the unique value of this show:
In addition to it being designed to educate, motivate, and inspire, which is truthfully a key factor in boosting self-confidence, we will be emphasizing key lessons from the video interviews.

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ABOUT TRICIABIZ ⭐

Tricia Olufemi-Olumide (a.k.a. TriciaBiz) is commonly described as The Business Fixer. She is an entrepreneur, author, and business growth expert with over 12 years of experience working across a wide portfolio of clients in Nigeria, offering services ranging from business growth consulting, marketing penetration strategies, and other core marketing across several sectors.

She is the founder of Business Lab Academy Africa, a fast-growing digital learning platform for African entrepreneurs, and has successfully trained over 200,000 entrepreneurs in 10 cities across Africa.

TriciaBiz is a multiple-award winner and has been invited to speak at various seminars, workshops, and conferences globally.


ABOUT THE GUEST 👤

Deborah Lawson (a.k.a. Debby Lawson) is the Executive Director of Fastizers Food and Confectionery Limited, a company she runs alongside her husband Gbola Lawson who is the Managing Director.

Fastizers, a rapidly emerging food manufacturing company, started from a kitchenette in 2010 with very basic equipment, and with N960 only. Ten years after, the company had grown into a 2-acre automated production factory in Agbara, Ogun State, fitted with modern baking equipment. Their current distribution covers over 20 states with a production of over 600,000 Fastizers Fun Cookies daily.


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