BY ANINO AGANBI

Toyin Onigbanjo, CEO, August Secret, is a multi talented person who has the flair for writing. Her passion in helping mothers spend less on imported baby food has allowed her put together a well thought out meal plan books for children of all ages. Onigbanjo read English at the Kogi State University, a master’s degree in Public Affairs, University of Lagos. She also holds a diploma in Child Nutrition.

Toyin Onigbanjo

Who are behind August Secrets?
There are so many mothers who are confused on how to feed their babies and they keept asking questions. There are also mothers who have no idea that our regular day to day meal is enough to feed any child if combined correctly. The essence of having the book as a mother is to find out what might work best for a child within a particular age group.

Had raising your children anything to do with your writing the book? 
It certainly does. When I was raising my kids, the first one really gave me problems feeding him, as he kept rejecting each meal. My son was a picky eater, so I had to start thinking of what to do. I realized that when the food is fun, he would eat well. When a food is fun, a baby will eat. And that is what we have in our recipe book. I can say that my experiences actually made it easy for me to write the book.

What inspired the decision?
I love writing. It is natural to me and that is why when I looked at the amount of time I spent answering questions, I decided to write a meal plan book out of it. It has been a year now since we launched online. I realized that a lot of mums just want to ask questions. I spent much time answering questions and decided why don’t I compile all of these into a book, so that people will have better access to it. I decided to write it instead and put my talent to use and in the process bless mothers out there.

How has it been?
So far, it has been good because those people who collect free samples are allowed to comment on them. Whatever they think is not right, they report back to us. We have a nutritionist who works and helps us test these foods.

Did you work with a nutritionist before branching into your own brand of baby food?
Yes, we did. Currently we are still working with them. The nutritionist gives us the right food to feed a child with. A nutritionist will tell us that for a child within a certain age bracket, liver is very important. So we then come up with our own recipe and that is what we put in our book.

Why did you focus solely on children?
I do adult meal books too, but I realized that the major meal book is for the children. The first one thousand days of a child is most important for a child to have the right nutrition. It is easy for an adult to eat anything. But for a child, if that child is not given the appropriate meals, the child will be malnourished.