Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The Nestle Professionals, the Out-of-Home arm of Nestlé Nigeria, on Thursday trained no fewer than 200 caterers and food vendors in Enugu on food business skills to boost their knowledge in the business.
The event which took place at the Handball Pitch of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Stadium, Enugu, titled “Enugu Edition” had the theme “The Business of Food.”
Speaking during the training, the Nestle Nigeria Food Manager, Nestlé Professional, Mr Oladipupo Jibril, said the company created Nestlé Professionals to connect with their key opinion leaders in the food system.
He explained that the idea was to bring them together to showcase their products.
“Teach them more about the products, the usage to enhance their cooking as we as benefit from using the company’s products.”
According to him, Nestlé Nigeria provides convenient and affordable solutions to people in food businesses with the introduction of powder maggi that can easily give their food best taste and quality.
“The essence is to celebrate the long journey of being together since the introduction of the Nestlé Professional maggi powder into the Nigeria market.
“Participants have been buying our products and we identify with them, even as they buy in open market in condiments section. They are our success in the food space when it comes to out-of-home business.
“So, we see it as a good opportunity to bring them closer to know more about the products as a lot of them did not know there is a solution called maggi powder in the market,” he said.
The food manager added that the professionals took them on the process of cooking, what they needed to do in terms of food handling and placement, and the nutrients they will get when they use Nestlé products.
“We also made them understand that the business of food as it is, is not only about cooking but that there is need to understand the cost element involved and with this, we are creating better food entrepreneurs,” he said.
Jibril said that similar programmes had been conducted in Kano, Port Harcourt, Jos, Abuja and Ilorin, explaining that Enugu was 7th in the series.
“We had massive turnout and very interesting results in Enugu,” he added.
The highlight of the event included the empowerment of the participants with catering equipment, as well as cooking and dancing competitions.
