Restaurant owner Hammy named as the Start Up Loans Ambassador for Northern Ireland

Hammed ‘Hammy’ Obikoya, founder of Mama Bobo, a Nigerian restaurant and grocery store in Belfast, is one of the 14 business owners announced today as a Start Up Loans 2025 Ambassador. The popular restaurant became a reality thanks to £25,000 in funding from the Start Up Loans programme in 2023.

These funds allowed Hammy to purchase fridges, gas cookers and food from Nigeria as well as cover the business’ running expenses for the first few months.

Having returned home from a career as a consultant in London, Hammy and his mother Dorcas, a woman with a reputation for cooking delicious food, decided to take a leap of faith and open the first Nigerian restaurant in the city. 

Now in its tenth year, Start Up Loans Ambassadors shines a spotlight on remarkable UK entrepreneurs who have turned their business ideas into reality with support from the government-backed initiative. 

Each Ambassador has been chosen for showcasing the determination, innovation and resilience needed to grow a small business, while inspiring others to pursue their own entrepreneurial journeys.

Hammy said: “People had been asking mum for a long time to open a restaurant, but we weren’t confident about taking a loan. Initially I was spending my own money, but the Start Up Loans process was much easier than I could have imagined and has allowed us to make our dream a reality.”

Through a network of Business Support Partner organisations, such as Enterprise Northen Ireland, the Start Up Loans programme provides access to pre-and-post loan support to help applicants to develop a business plan. It also provides fixed-interest first and second loans of up to £25,000 to help recipients to start or grow their business and mentoring support to help loan recipients with everything from cash flow to marketing.

Previous Start Up Loans Ambassadors, including NICE Drinks and UK Connect, have progressed to achieve considerable growth. The most successful scale-up business, in terms of valuation, that has been supported by Start Up Loans, is sportswear brand Castore,which is valued at approximately £1bn.

The 2025 Ambassadors will be introduced at a dedicated event in central London that marks the start of a year-long programme which will see them take part in a series of local and national engagements, helping inspire and encourage aspiring start-up founders to take the leap into business ownership. 

 Susan McKane, Senior Manager for Northern Ireland, British Business Bank said: “We are incredibly proud to mark ten years of Start Up Loans Ambassadors, which continues to highlight the achievements of extraordinary UK entrepreneurs who have brought their business ideas to life with the help of our government-backed programme. 

“I have no doubt that Hammy will encourage other aspiring business owners to bring their start-up plans to life. It’s a remarkable business Hammy runs along with his family and is very representative of the kind of business that a Start Up Loan can support.”

For more information about Start Up Loans, please visit www.startuploans.co.uk