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Somodale Olufunke Dosunmu works with the National Health Service (NHS) as a United Kingdom-based public health worker. But her passion remains churning out culinary delights; even though she has three university degrees in her kitty and is currently studying for a fourth!
Ms Dosunmu graduated in Physical Health Education from the Lagos State University, Ojo, in 1998.
But for her, cooking was not just a passion; it was a side job that also helped her through school.
After graduating from LASU, she obtained her Masters in Public Health at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State. Thereafter, she left for the United Kingdom in 2003 and while she tried her hands at working in the public healthcare sector, catering as a side hustle was never far from her mind.
The same vigour with which she first started her catering business in Agege, a Lagos suburb, while still a student at LASU where she catered for neighbours and friends for free, never waned.
In the UK, Ms Dosunmu continued with the same vigour. She later obtained certification for Food Safety in Catering from the Institute of Hospitality.
In 2015, she bagged Early Years Postgraduate Studies at the Middlesex University and later founded SKD Company, a vehicle for her to finally commercialise her culinary passion.
In addition to the culinary business, SKD company engages in gift items, souvenirs, African fabrics predominantly made in Nigeria and a bit of import and export businesses for clients who have their events within and outside the UK.
Even though Somodale works part-time at the UK’s NHS, she’s carved a niche for herself in the culinary business and has got a sizeable number of projects lined up in 2022.
She said: “God has been good to us. I’ve had to travel around the world, tending to clients who want fresh and homemade cooking on the spot. I have several requests to attend to in Nigeria and the Yuletide was especially busy for SKD.
There have been instances where clients have paid for flights for me and my staff to cater to their culinary delights outside the UK.
“For instance, this month, SKD has events to handle in Ogun State, with all expenses paid from the UK. So we render services across Europe, Dubai and Nigeria for now.”
Challenging as working with the NHS is, Somodale believes her passion for cooking has helped her strike a balance in between.
“It’s only people who understand the intricacies of culinary business that appreciate the enormous work. A lot still feel we are expensive but we are not,” she added.
