After ten years of building, Ebele Enunwa has contributed a quota of over 4,000 jobs to Nigeria’s labour sector through his supermarket chain business MarketSquare.
From a single outlet launched in 2015, the retail brand has expanded into what is now widely regarded as Nigeria’s largest modern supermarket network, reshaping how millions of consumers access groceries, household goods and everyday essentials across 16 cities.
As founder and chief executive of Sundry Markets Limited, he has spent the past decade building a retail system designed not just for sales, but for structure supply chains, logistics networks, pricing architecture and store formats that can function consistently across Nigeria’s fragmented consumer market.
But the scale of the business today is the outcome of a longer professional arc that began far from retail floors.
Early education and experience
Born on August 17, 1976, Ebele Emmanuel Enunwa is the first of three children born to an accountant father and a nurse mother. Though originally from Delta State, he was raised in Lagos, where early exposure to his parents’ professions shaped his worldview and his eventual decision to pursue accounting.
- His formal education began at MPPS, where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate between 1979 and 1986, before proceeding to Airforce Military School, Jos, from 1986 to 1992, where he completed his secondary education.
- In 1992, he gained admission into the University of Ilorin, where he studied Accounting and graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He would go on to complete his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in Lagos between August 1998 and July 1999, serving at Deloitte as a Graduate Internship Associate in Business Assurance.
- That exposure to audit, compliance and advisory work marked his first structured entry into corporate services. He subsequently transitioned into banking, joining Stanbic IBTC in September 1999.
At Stanbic IBTC, Enunwa spent five years, rising to become Regional Manager between 1999 and December 2004, overseeing operations across the South-South and South-East regions of Nigeria. The role deepened his expertise in deal origination, credit analysis, relationship management and large-scale execution across multiple client segments.
Building Sundry Foods and the foundation of scale
In 2003, Enunwa incorporated Sundry Foods Limited, officially commencing operations in September 2004. From inception, he combined the roles of founder and chief executive, overseeing strategy, operations and expansion.
- The business was built through a mix of equity and debt financing and evolved into one of Nigeria’s most diversified food service groups.
Under his leadership, Sundry Foods developed a portfolio of consumer brands including Kilimanjaro, Nibbles Bread, Pizza Jungle, Kili Grills and SFS, its industrial and events catering arm. Over time, the company expanded into more than 100 outlets nationwide, employing thousands and establishing itself as a major player in Nigeria’s organised food service industry.
This experience became the operational blueprint for his next venture.
Building Marketsquare
By 2015, Enunwa turned his attention to a different consumer gap: modern grocery retail. Nigeria’s retail landscape remained largely informal, dominated by open markets and small neighbourhood shops. He saw an opportunity to introduce structure, and consistency.
- That vision led to the creation of Sundry Markets Limited and the launch of Marketsquare as its flagship brand. The strategy was to build large-format supermarkets that combined wide product assortment with competitive pricing and reliable availability, supported by a centralised supply chain system.
What started as a single store has since expanded into a multi-city network and one of the country’s largest supermarket chain.
- Beyond retail and food service, Enunwa has held several governance roles, including Non-Executive director at International Gaming and Entertainment Limited . He also holds a Master’s degree in Hospitality Management from Cornell University, earned in 2008, reinforcing his long-standing focus on consumer experience-driven industries.
Today, Enunwa stands among a generation of Nigerian founders building institution-scale companies in the consumer sector.
