Imagine waking up in the morning and expecting to go through the daily routine of your hustle and bustle in an attempt to make ends meet but only to end up, by midday, being a millionaire! That is the story of Emomotimi Mercy Borme, a native of Ogulagha Kingdom in the Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State and the Chief Executive Officer of M&E Cakes and Cuisine, one of the brands that won the Kestin Pondi Business Grant prize of ₦5,000,000k.

Unlike other winners of the business grant sponsored by High Chief (Engr.) Kestin Pondi, the Managing Director of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, that of Emomotimi, whether by divine intervention or simply a coincidence, remains to be decided by readers themselves.

"Its joy unspeakable. I don't know what to say. I was speechless because it was beyond my expectation, I didn't even know what to say," the M&E Cakes and Cuisine CEO said when asked what her reaction was in her winning the business grant prize money. But how did it all started?

The journey that would change the life of Emomotimi began when she received an email from the organisers of the Kestin Pondi Business Grant, that her brand has been shortlisted among the 40 brands selected for a business exposition ahead of the announcing of 20 brands that will emerge as winners. That email was also sent to M&E Foods, another brand that also emerged winner.

Though she had applied for such a grant (earlier advertised in the birth month of February of the sponsor), the similarity of her brand's identity with another led to the email in error as her's was not initially among the shortlisted ones. With this knowledge unknown to her, she nonetheless showed up, if not for anything else, to learn from others how to grow her business. But that decision unexpectedly turned things around for her.

"I am somebody who believes in opening up to new opportunities to learn. I just wanted to acquire more knowledge and learn from others. I didn't even expect I would be a part of the winners," she had affirmed.

But when her names were called by the sponsor himself, she recalled, "Like, I wasn't expecting it. I said, okay, maybe it's over. And I just heard my name. I said, 'Wow!, it can only be God!' At that point, it felt like something happened to you that you don't have words to describe it, that's what happened to me," she confessed.

It has been days since the award prize was given to beneficiaries, precisely on Thursday, March 6, 2025, but the CEO of M&E Cakes and Cuisine, when PENGlobal Business reached out to her on Sunday said, "Like now, I'm still in shock. When I got home, I said, 'Wow! Can somebody really do this?' May God really bless him because even humans can hardly do something like this. It's a God sent."

Speaking on what her brand offers and the opportunities the grant has opened up for her brand, the CEO who said she schooled in Ghana, said, "M&E Cakes and Cuisine is into foods, drinks; we are also into small chops, cakes and all that, anything that you want to eat that is palatable. Our foods we prepare are both continental and intercontinental dishes; we bake all kinds of cake that you can think of—dessert cake, normal cake, butter cake, fruit cake and all that. We are also into drinks—our drinks are fresh fruit drinks and comes in a lot of other varieties like tiger nuts, orange drinks, pineapple drinks and all that. We also do sell soft drinks.

"I plan to actually export some of my products outside my immediate environment especially my fruit healthy drinks because those drinks can actually help in weight loss, help people with low blood pressure to actually take such drinks to help them balance their system, those people that don't really want too much sugar in their system also need them."

"So, I'm seeing my business expanding with this fund at hand. I want to make people to be aware of my fruit drinks product. Lack of fund was really a limitation for me. And now that I have the funds, I will exploit every opportunity to boost their sales and improve other of our products," she said confidently.

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