 Uche Ukonu Jnr is an operator and venture builder based in Lagos, Nigeria. His expertise is helping companies, firms, and other stakeholders execute special projects, optimise operations, and validate product/project pilots for scale across West and East Africa.
He also founded and bootstrapped Smallchops.ng to profitability, worked as Chief of Staff in EdenLife’s food production arm (Homemade), and most recently led the team that executed one of the largest single-entity owned electric vehicle (EV) ecosystems in Nigeria.
I help people build their biggest ideas properly so that they don’t fall apart. Sometimes “adults” have powerful ideas, but they’re messy, like toys everywhere on the floor. I help organise the toys, decide which ones are important, show everyone how to play together properly, and make sure they remember how to play nice even when I’m not there.
The first thing I look at is the definition of what success is to the sponsors and stakeholders of the operation, and this usually comes from gaining clarity on what the success indicators are, their dependencies, what the operating environment currently looks like, what the execution risks are, and how much time there is to convert the “messiness” to excellent execution.
Once success is clearly defined, the mess usually becomes a systems problem, and systems can be redesigned and optimised.
One thing consumer startups underestimate is operational complexity at scale. They usually find out too late how unforgiving it can be. Demand is exciting, but if your supply chain, quality control, and cost discipline aren’t tight, growth actually magnifies your problems.
So the real work isn’t growth. It’s designing repeatable systems where quality, cost, and speed can coexist, because scale doesn’t fix weak systems. It exposes them.