How I Built a Business called Snackspot and raised my first Angel Investment
During ASUU Strike in 2013, I had documented a list of challenges I would love to see solved. Snackspot was an answer to some of those challenges but I didn't solve it till 2015. I had a lot of reflections about some of the challenges I observed during my time at my secondary school @ Our Lady & St.Francis Catholic College (OSCCO).
The challenge of limited food options during lunch break and I had the perfect solution which was to aggregate snack vendors across the state, formalise their operations with technology to provide snacks to select schools we have signed partnership deals with. I even thought of having a card that allows students to have their parents pre-load cash for them to spend with us.
I called the business SNACKSPOT and here's what the plan looked like
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707975649/blog/z.jpg)
But before all of this, I started by reading lots of research documents and took a survey of parents around me.
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707975858/blog/z1.jpg)
Every parent I spoke with loved the idea as it would save them the stress involved in planning their kid's lunch break meals and the next plan was to find a school to trial at. I immediately thought about my alma-mater and went there. The conversation was easy as I was a 2 time prefect in the school and they remembered me as a bright student hence, they welcomed the idea. They particularly loved the stand and our branding:
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976080/blog/z3.jpg)
I remembered fighting Adobe Illustrator to get this design done. As a young innvoator, I thought really hard about what would make this unique and I decided to introduce the snack card which would be issued to every students.
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976223/blog/z4.jpg)
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976224/blog/z5.jpg)
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976225/blog/z6.jpg)
The menu wasn't totally convincing but I was still able to sell the idea
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976226/blog/z7.jpg)
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976226/blog/z8.jpg)
I knew I needed to scale the business hence, I started speaking with everyone I knew to invest in the business. Here's a copy of the proposal I made
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976793/blog/z11.jpg)
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976793/blog/z12.jpg)
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976794/blog/z13.jpg)
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976794/blog/z14.jpg)
![abdulquadri sotomiwa](https://res.cloudinary.com/dxuap8kxy/image/upload/v1707976794/blog/z15.jpg)
And I met the Talabi brothers; I can't remember specifically how my relationship with Femi Talabi started but I knew I pitched him Snackspot and he invested more than half of the investment I was seeking.
The business didn't go farther than one school because I was too naive especially around creating processes around vendors to ensure quality and fast delivery of inventory needed at the stands. I got cheated and had to close down the business. I explained to my investors and they were quite happy to have invested in me. I hope I am able to make a lot of money to reward them for their trust in a 23 year old me.