Adeyinka Tekenah
“I wanted to find a way to provide more local coffee to the average Nigerian. Why shouldn’t someone have access to a decent cup of Nigerian coffee?” says Adeyinka Tenekah. Adeyinka Tekenah is the founder and CEO of Happy Coffee, a brand that offers an array of coffees, teas, and chocolate drinks in customized mixes and flavors in Nigerian style.
Adeyinka’s career has traversed government, charity, and business development. As a life member of the Phi Theta Kappa honors roll call, and Dean list, she serves as an advisory member of “Apple of All Nations Nigeria and the UK” a charity for the needy and fatherless. Phi Theta Kappa honors is an international honor society of two-year colleges and academic programs, particularly state colleges and community colleges.
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The idea of Happy Coffee began back in 2003 when Adeyinka read the book “Pour Your Heart Into It”, a book written about the former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz who developed America’s coffee culture, and decided she was going into the coffee business. The Starbucks brand and its growth spurred her idea.
“I love the Starbucks model and I am determined to build a coffee narrative particular to Nigeria,” says Adeyinka Tenekah.
However, th compny was not established until 2015 when she applied for and was accepted into the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program, a pan-African program set up to finance promising business start-ups. With the seed capital of $5,000 from the foundation, Adeyinka founded Happy Coffee, a local coffee franchise. Adeyinka fully developed her mobile cafe concept during the 3-month training of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program.
Happy Coffee serves a Nigerian coffee blend, sourcing beans from women farmers in Taraba State in the north-eastern part of the country and processing them in Lagos. Happy coffee aims to be a household name in Nigeria in 5 years, and to score significant growth in the Nigerian coffee sector by influencing policy creation and see more entrepreneurs, from farmers to roasters to retailers go into the coffee value chain. The brand caters for both private and corporate events as well as bars and restaurants through pop-up stores.
Adeyinka is passionate about business designs and advancement leading to sustainable growth and development for African women. She is presently the business designer for Ochaoptasia Limited and Lead consultant for Reywal ventures.
Adeyinka is on a mission to re-educate the average Nigerian on the art of coffee drinking and provide access to the availability of Nigerian grown coffee. She aims to revive the coffee industry in the agricultural sector by patronizing Nigerian coffee farmers. Adeyinka has been awarded by Her network for Startup and Good lifestyle in Local creativity in business.
Adeyinka is giving Nigerians a delightful coffee experience and placing Nigeria’s coffee culture on the map with her enterprise, Happy Coffee and we are proud.