Nigerian business woman living in Fernwood launches new sauce business
A full-time accountant and mother has given wings to her passion for ‘good food’ as she launched two creative food businesses.
Efeturi Emeledor, originally from Nigeria, moved to Fernwood in 2010, and over the years has brought many new ideas to the Newark area, from hair salons and clothes making to wedding cakes and sauces.
Efeturi describes her 12-year-old son, Tare, as her ‘cheerleader’ and ‘biggest supporter’, who inspired her cake business Efelóshé in March 2021 after he asked her to decorate a cake for his birthday, as well as her most recent venture — Turilicious.
Tare loves jollof rice, a traditional Nigerian dish, and would regularly ask her to make it as a treat — however, the dish often takes between one hour and a half to two hours to make.
She then decided to invest in making the sauce and find a way to store it without being in the fridge, and she achieved a recipe that can stay on the shelf for four to six months.
Suitable for vegans, the sauce is tomato-based with vegetables and offers mild, hot and extra options.
Efeturi said: “With the cake business I get to defy the odds of gravity with food which can be quite exciting and it allows me to be more creative and connect with people by designing something that will relate to their story.
“But despite all the cake, you need food and something to sustain you and that is where the sauce comes in, I need to make sure that people are well-fed and entertained.”
Despite the sauce being originally for jollof rice, people have been experimenting with the sauce in pasta, barbeque ribs, chicken, tofu and even beans on toast.
It can be ordered from the Turilicious social media or be bought at Joy’s African Caribbean Food Store, Appletongate, Richard’s Quality Meats on Clinton Arms Court or at J&J Filipe Foods in Grantham.
She added: “With the cake business I get to defy the odds of gravity with food which can be quite exciting and it allows me to be more creative and connect with people by designing something that will relate to their story.
“But despite all the cake, you need food and something to sustain you and that is where the sauce comes in, I need to make sure that people are well-fed and entertained.”
In 2015, Efeturi opened the first Afro-Caribbean hair salon in Newark as a part-time job and in 2017 it closed doors as she looked for her next adventure.
She added: “When I had my salon, I called it a one-stop shop, it was too big a vision at the time as I wanted a place where you can come and have your hair done, you can have your nails done, you can have a massage done, you would come in and you have a day to yourself.
“I didn't know how much work was needed, but now that I know, I am taking one step at a time, not growing too fast.”
In 2020, she started a social media group called Afro Babes Newark, dedicated to bringing women from the Afro-Caribbean community together which has over 100 members.
In the same year, Effi started a YouTube channel named Effis Kitchen, where she teaches people a whole variety of recipes and dishes.
“Nothing is ever too hard if you say it's not hard so I don't think of it as a job, I always look at it as fun.
“If you don’t enjoy it, then you think of something as a chore or a job, you start to not like what you're doing and it gets hard.”
She self-published a book in 2022 — Mom’s Not Telling — a children’s book about a mother going on adventures with her children but never telling them what the adventure is until they get there.
The award-winning cake designer concluded: “That has been my life motto, to just make every moment count and enjoy what you are doing now, you will find out when you get there.
“Every journey is always made to be memorable and I see life as you will always be faced with challenges, so you have to decide what side you’re standing on.
“Whether that rock that is your challenge is a stumbling block or a stepping stone, I look at yesterday as an opportunity to help you tomorrow, not something to hold me back.”
