A food takeaway outlet has opened at Lotopa, not far from the Robert Louis Stevenson Primary School. 

NiSel Takeaway opened to customers on Monday with its owner Nikonia Iakopo optimistic despite the economic downturn, as he strives to earn extra income for the family on top of his normal day job.

Mr Iakopo revealed that family obligations as well as church and other personal commitments led to him opening the takeaway to earn extra income for his family. 

"I’m the only one in our family who’s working and it’s one of the reasons why we decided to start this takeaway business, to help provide for our family financially, because it's a different time now and we don’t earn every day,” he said in an interview. Some days we’re struggling because there are too many family obligations, church commitments and others.

"I wanted to do something that will not only help me but also my family [financially]." 

Currently working full-time with the Samoa Stationery and Books (S.S.A.B.), Mr Iakopo indicated that he is his family’s sole breadwinner, but access to finance has become a challenge in recent times.

He had to take one-week leave from his job at S.S.A.B. to set up the takeaway shop and will hand it over to his parents to run so he can return to work.

The plan to set up a business venture started in 2019 but he indicated that there were difficulties in accessing startup capital. 

Over a year later his dreams have come true with the establishment of the takeaway shop, which he says is a viable business option as there is always demand for food. 

The budding businessman currently lives with his family in Saleimoa, but in the first week since their opening, he now realises the hard work and long hours that the business will need if it is to succeed. 

If the customer turnout on Monday was any indication, Mr Iakopo is of the opinion that these are encouraging and promising signs.

"So far it was a good turnout yesterday (Monday), we didn’t expect that many customers, and we thought we wouldn’t make that much because we know it takes some time for people to really get used to the location of our business, especially since we just opened," he said. 

And in a bid to attract more customers, the takeaway shop is open to customers contributing to the menu. 

"We’re going to try and be innovative and we’re open to our customers wanting to change our menu a bit, we won’t be keeping to just this menu."