My Journey Nigeria to Dunfermline

Temi Ajayi Salami, founder of AYT Foods and the TMAS Community CIC, addressed the Rotary Club of West Fife on her journey from entrepreneur in Nigeria to community leader in Dunfermline.

Before moving to Scotland, Temi ran several businesses in Nigeria, spanning fashion, farming, egg distribution, and a fish-processing operation exporting catfish to the US, UK and South Africa. She relocated to Scotland in February 2021 when her husband was accepted onto a second master's programme at Edinburgh Napier University, settling in Dunfermline on the recommendation of the person who found them their accommodation. Though initially finding the area quiet compared to Lagos, she said the community's warmth quickly made it feel like home.

Temi's first UK role was with HMRC in debt management, followed by promotion to a work coach position at the DWP in Kirkcaldy. She left employment in late 2023 to pursue entrepreneurship full time. Recognising that many in her community saw civil service jobs as inaccessible, she began informally supporting people with applications and CVs via a WhatsApp group of around 250 members, later formalised as the T-MAS Community CIC. This work, along with sessions organised with NHS Fife and NHS Lothian, has helped over fifty community members secure employment.

Her main business, AYT Foods, opened in December 2023 as the first Afro-Caribbean grocery store in Fife, addressing a gap she experienced when unable to easily source African food in Scotland. She described the shop as more than a retailer - a hub offering cultural representation. Building on this, she launched the Afro-Caribbean Summer Festival in 2024, which drew 6,000 attendees in its first year and over 6,500 in its second, including visitors from the US, Canada and England.

Temi spoke openly about the challenges of entrepreneurship, including unpredictable cash flow, difficulty securing loans as a new business, staffing constraints, and the pressures of starting afresh in an unfamiliar country. AYT Foods has since received around ten awards, including the UK National Consumer Startup of the Year, and Temi was recognised among the UK's most inspiring female entrepreneurs, with visits to the House of Lords and Downing Street.

She closed by encouraging the audience to start before feeling fully prepared, to build with and give generously to others, and to remain adaptable while holding firm to one's underlying purpose. Responding to questions, she discussed her earlier legal training, her international sourcing network across Nigeria and Uganda, ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the shop, and plans for recipes, a cookery demonstration space, and a future restaurant in Dunfermline.

Club Treasurer Morag delivered the vote of thanks, praising Temi's positivity, creativity and connection with people.

Reflections on Temi's philosophy as a business leader rests on four connected principles, drawn from her own path from entrepreneur in Nigeria to community leader in Dunfermline.

Start before you're ready. She rejects the idea of waiting for a "perfect time," arguing that perfect conditions never arrive and delay simply wastes time and life. Instead, growth happens in motion - you begin wherever you are, then learn, relearn, and unlearn as you go, improving continuously rather than front-loading all the answers.

Build with people, not alone. She sees community as the engine of real change, drawing on her own family, friends, and community networks. This isn't abstract - it shows up as a personal standard: everyone who meets her or engages with her should leave with something of value, some positive takeaway from the interaction.

Give freely, without hoarding. Central to her outlook is generosity of knowledge - if someone asks something, she shares it rather than guarding information. Her view is that life becomes easier when people give rather than withhold, allowing others to grow through what's shared with them.

Stay adaptable while holding the purpose fixed. She distinguishes between the goal and the path to it. Circumstances may mean the original timeline or route no longer works, and she's comfortable changing direction or method entirely - but the underlying purpose doesn't change. The plan is flexible; the "why" is not.

Together, these form a leadership style that's iterative rather than perfectionist, communal rather than self-reliant, generous rather than protective, and resilient rather than rigid.