Tag: West African Food Exhibition

The couple found a gap in the market for African cuisine and wanted to fill it. All the ready meals are made with an emphasis on making them authentic, healthy and like home-cooked African meals. They are using organically grown ingredients, with the majority sourced from West Africa.

The different meals available are Afang Soup, Asun, Bitterleaf Soup, Efo Riro, Egusi Soup, Ewa Agoyin, Nkwobi and Smokey Jollof.

“We are delighted to be bringing Oyetty Meals to the market,” comments Olusegun Akande who founded the business with his wife Oyetola Isola (pictured). “COVID had a huge impact on our business, meaning we had to pivot, and fortunately the online side of the business really took off in 2020. The success meant we could invest money back into the business and offer convenience meals as another option. After two years in the making, we are delighted to be able to offer our meals, which are cooked with care and flare by our expert chefs to our longstanding customers. They have been crafted to balance nutrition, taste and most importantly the Nigerian authentic flavour.”

“We love good food, and we believe a good diet contributes to good health and a happier life,” says Isola. “We want everyone one to be able to enjoy tasty authentic Nigerian dishes without the fuss of sourcing ingredients, scanning recipes and most especially finding the time to cook it.”

On top of the new business venture, the pair have launched the Oyetty Foundation, which provides 5% of sales from Oyetty Meals to provide for support, help and information to Nigerian families with children having additional and/or special needs.

As the event wound down, exhibitors from five continents looked back at the past few days in Lagos at the fourth Food and Beverage West Africa Exhibition in Lagos, Nigeria. They counted themselves privileged to be part of the 200 exhibiting firms to showcase their products in the Nigerian market.

Managing Director from BtoB Events (the organisers of the show) Jamie Hill, exclaimed that he was impressed by the number of companies that showcased. It meant the Nigerian people had opportunity to make partnerships and deals with prominent brands from their industry.

 “When it comes to big business for the Food and Beverage West Africa Exhibition in the sub-Saharan Africa region, which is the largest food and beverage trade exhibition, the right place to be is Nigeria.

“We are humbled and honoured to host the fourth edition here again. We have over 200 exhibitors from across 40 to 50 countries, spanning five continents.

“I will like to say how impressive I am with the local exhibitors here from Nigeria. We want to do everything we can to support our local businesses. We want them to come and flex muscles with the big players across the world.”

“Hopefully, we expect them to grow their businesses and begin to also export to other countries. This, really, would drive the Nigerian economy in the post-pandemic era.”

Sharmeen Foods, a leading Pakistani exporter of Dates exhibited and their Deputy Manager, Key Accounts (Export), Syed Ziyad Hussaini, submitted: “In this year’s show, we had a wide range of products from pitted to chopped and organic pitted dates, in addition to fruit bar and dairy biscuits etcetera.

“This is the first time we are here in Nigeria, and we are very happy with the hospitality and everything we have enjoyed since our arrival in the country.

“We are impressed with the turnout and very comfortable with the services offered us. I must say that the organisers have done a very good job, and I really wish them good luck in the next edition, as we look forward to coming back.”

At the 13th Multidisciplinary Team Meeting of 15 West African countries and Sahel sub-region held in Abuja, where they were brainstorming the way forward for the food and nutrition situation in the region Schmale announced this. The meetings theme being “Joining Efforts to Build Resilient Agrifood Systems in West Africa and Sahel”.

The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) of UN is where the growth will be attributed to, by their systemic approach undertaken in maintaining the development in the fight against hunger, poverty and progressing to deliver other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The challenges being faced by West Africa’s agri-food sources are a declining natural resource base, recurrent natural and human-caused disasters, climate change, and rising insecurity.

FAO representative in Nigeria and to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Fred Kafeero, said FAO emphasised on the area of data and analytics for the generation of evidence to guide responsible investments and partnerships for food systems transformation.

“We are glad our partners from ECOWAS are joining us to advance food security and nutrition in West Africa and to contribute to knowledge sharing regarding challenges, threats, and opportunities to move agri-food systems in the region towards sustainability.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar assured of government willingness to partner with FAO and other development partners in driving for a resilient agrifood system in the country in particular and in West Africa and Sahel in general.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the three days meeting expected over 200 delegates from the ECOWAS member states including senior officials, ministers and commissioners of agriculture, FAO staff, regional technical organisations, Civil Society among others to participate.