Puff Puff Ministry: Migration, food and sisterhood
One bakery, four sisters and a world mission to make puff puff Britain’s favourite dessert. From Lagos to London, find out how sisters, Yossie, Lola, Marianne and Fola, are using a family recipe to leave a legacy that transcends beyond flour, continents and time.
(From L-R): Marianna, Lola, Fola, Yossie
Story of Mama
On a Sunday afternoon somewhere in Lagos, a young Mama found herself assisting her mother in the kitchen. Her father was a Vicar, so it was ritual to cook for guests after the service.
Reminiscing on her childhood, Mama laughed saying, “My sister said I would randomly knock on our neighbour’s doors asking for flour.”
Little did she know that an ingredient as simple as flour would be the building blocks of a family legacy that would transcend borders.
Years later, she would go on to graduate from University of Lagos with a degree in Sociology then venture into journalism. However, a redundancy in 1998 would redirect her path back to her true calling of entrepreneurship. This led to the birth of her bakery in 1999. Still running today, the bakery was launched a year before Fola, the last born, arrived. One could say the double birth was symbolic of how intertwined the bakery would be into her daughters’ destinies. The recipe Mama developed in her kitchen would set the building blocks steadily transitioning into what we would later know as a Puff Puff Ministry.
How Puff Puff Ministry came to being
Made from flour, yeast, sugar and spices, puff puff is one of those deceptive dishes that look easy to make. Yet, it is not something everyone can get right; many are mediocre at best.
But one person who could get it right was Mama – she was a connoisseur at it according to her daughters. Using her recipe, Puff Puff Ministry was brought to life in August 2020 by her daughters Fola, Lola, Marianne and Yossie. The sweet fried dough balls are freshly delivered to customers, directly from the kitchen.
Puff puff is the Nigerian name for a traditional snack made of fried dough. There are variations of this snack across Africa, in Congo it’s called mikate, kala in Liberia, and Bofrot in Ghana.
One of the co-founders, Marianne, reflects on how monumental their mother was to the business: “When people came to our parties mum’s puff puff always stood out.”
She continued, “Why is everyone in love with doughnuts but not puff puff? So, we thought, ``Let's take it to the next level and create this business.”
One thing that the sisters made clear was that without their mother Puff Puff Ministry would not exist. It isn’t just about making money, it’s about legacy: “Mum is the heart of the business. It wouldn’t exist without her. She’s the reason why we’re all here. This is about our family’s legacy and continuing that”.
There’s something to be said about how migration has led many parents to sacrifice or put their dream on hold. Yet this was not the case with this family. Not only did these sisters carry on their mother’s baking legacy, they put their own mark on it and Puff Puff Ministry was born.
On sisterhood and running a business
As one can imagine, mixing business with family can have its perks, but also challenges.
“There is strength in numbers”. Marianne continues, “This means we can support each other and take on more workload when the others cannot due to commitments such as child care or studying.”
A communications professional, a digital marketing pro, logistics guru and an upcoming urban planning graduate – these sisters have a myriad of skills that have aided the success of their business. But more importantly, setting boundaries and being considerate of each other’s mental health has been key to not only running Puff Puff Ministry, but maintaining their relationship as sisters.
Whilst Lola’s eldest daughter entertained us with a rendition of her ABCs in the background, Yossie touched on juggling motherhood and a business. “Knowing when to pause and say ‘I’m swamped, can I come back to this later’, is important. We’re getting better at knowing when one person might have to carry more than the other.”
(From L-R): Yossie, Lola, Marianne and Fola
What’s Next?
For the girls the mission is simple: Make puff puff the UK’s favourite dessert. “There will be a Puff Puff Ministry in every country – global domination”. Marianne laughs, then continues, “Think McDonalds, but Puff Puff.”
As the girls look to continue their family legacy, challenges such as access to finance for ethnic minority founders remain. Marianne shares, “It’s really tricky, because it seems a lot of the advice out there around funding is always geared towards the tech industry.” According to a report by Extend Ventures, under 1% of venture capital investment in the UK went to black entrepreneurs across the last 10 years.
Puff Puff Ministry is what happens when you place legacy as the foundation of profit. These women have not only continued their family’s legacy, but also their culture. The use of puff puff itself in the name of their business (rather than doughnuts), is an example of how one can continue cultural legacy with integrity.
Knocking on neighbours’ doors in Nigeria for flour, transcended to knocking door to door to deliver puff puff across London. Watch out for this growing empire.