Refugee stories: The lawyer, the banker and the car-parts dealer

Ben & Jerry’s partnered with TERN (The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network) – an ambitious young social enterprise – to create the Ice (Ice Cream Entrepreneurs) Academy.

The programme works with refugees to develop their business ideas through entrepreneurship training, mentoring and part-time employment.

As Cat Baron, Ben & Jerry's European Social Mission Programme Officer, says: “Everyone at some point needs to be given a chance. While this is only one small step, we hope this programme might be the foundation that people need in going on to fulfil their potential and help put their futures back in their own hands.”

Growing up in Nigeria, my mum instilled a strong work ethic in me from an early age. She ran a catering business alongside her day job in the public sector. When she got a big order, we would all help. I envied my friends going to parties. But it prepared me for what lay ahead.

I studied law, then got a job at a bank in Lagos. After a few years, I left to start my own law firm. I really enjoyed this time but it wasn’t conducive to raising a family. So, I joined the legal department of the National Board for Community Banks. The job came with more regular hours and less travel.

In 2008, I had to escape what had turned into an abusive marriage. I feared for my safety and that of my children. I didn’t have a well-thought-out plan. I just packed our cases and left for the UK. It was scary – I was 45 and my kids were 15, 12 and 9 at the time. My two eldest have now graduated university and with the other one currently studying for a degree, I decided I needed to do something for myself again.

I have always enjoyed cooking. Mum was a great cook but a strict teacher. My grandmother made me fall in love with how food should be prepared and enjoyed. She liked to use a small number of fresh ingredients to make food that tasted amazing. When family and friends started asking to buy my food, I knew there was a business idea there. But I didn’t know where to start and my confidence was low. The Ice Academy helped with both. It taught me about things like marketing and research. It also restored my self-belief.

My target is professionals who don’t have time to prepare good, healthy food. I also cater events and parties. It’s mainly traditional Nigerian dishes but I love fusion. My speciality is my chilli sauce. My children love it, and they are my fiercest critics. I’m not making a living out of it at the moment, but I have big plans. I work night shifts in a care job so I can cook during the day. Eventually, I want to sell my food and sauces through supermarkets. I want Nana Nokki to become a household name.

Living and working in Iran, I had everything I could wish for – a good job in banking, a house, a nice car, enough money and lots of friends. But I was also outspoken about human rights. This led to problems with the government, and I felt I was in danger of being arrested and punished.

That made life very difficult and my mental health really suffered. It got to the point where I couldn’t take it any more, so one day I decided to leave it all behind. That was a tough decision – to just walk away from everything I knew and start again from scratch somewhere new and unfamiliar.

You can’t take money out of the country, so I arrived in the UK with nothing. No family or friends. It took a while to get my visa and that whole time you can’t do anything. I had gone from having a decent position in society to barely surviving on benefits. When I finally got settled, I began to put my life back together, but finding a job wasn’t easy. For professional roles, my English wasn’t good enough. For non-skilled jobs, I was over-qualified. So, the first thing I did was go to college to improve my English.

I was thinking about starting my own business. I had an idea, but I didn’t know how to take even the first steps to make it happen. TERN and the Ice Academy are helping me understand how business works in the UK. It’s also giving me confidence to pursue my dream.

My idea is to provide refugees with services – like therapy, workshops and social events – to help meet their emotional and relationship needs. This is a huge problem for many people. But refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, understandably, tend to suffer more with these kinds of issues. I’m excited to get this up and running, so I can help people in a similar situation as myself. My goal is to study cognitive science and do something in that field. But that’s longer term. I need to get qualifications so I can apply to university.