Crown Flour
Mill Limited (CFM), makers of the popular Mama Gold Flour brands, has echoed
its commitment to providing scaled support resources to bolster the
productivity level and employment generating capacity of the baking industry.
The flour milling firm and subsidiary of Olam, an agribusiness conglomerate, restated
this pledge in a press statement to felicitate with Nigerian bakers on the
commemoration of the World Baking Day on Monday, May 17, 2021.
In the
release, Ashish Pande, Managing Director of Crown Flour Mill Limited, said, “The
Baking industry is key for food production in Nigeria, it produces bread, a major
staple food in the country, not to mention pastries and confectionery.”
According to
him, “Asides producing Nigeria’s leading staple food, the bread segment creates
jobs for thousands of people employed in its value chain, which ranges from bakers
down to street hawkers. Having realised the importance of the segment to the
Nigerian economy, in consultation with bakers, we were able to identify skill
and knowledge gaps that needed to be closed if the segment was to continue
playing its crucial role in supporting the Nigerian economy and food security.
Thereafter, we launched a baking school, which has continued to enhance the
skill and know-how of operators of non-mechanized or artisanal bakeries since
2018.”
Speaking about
CFM’s baking school and why the firm prioritized bakers’ capacity development, Mr.
Olayinka Yusuf, Head, Crown Flour Mill Baking School, explained that the baking
school offers bakers the opportunity to enhance their technical and business
management skills.
He said, “We
believe that with the right knowledge, artisanal bakers can improve their output
with their existing equipment, resulting in lower production costs and increased
margins.”
Yusuf revealed
that CFM has committed about N120 million to training bakers pan-Nigeria from
2020 to date. So far 1,500 bakers have benefitted from the firm’s capacity
building initiative. The CFM baking programme focuses on equipping both
existing and the next generation of bakers with the requisite knowledge and skills
to take the industry to the next level.
CFM baking schools
are currently located in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Warri, Ilorin,
Calabar and Kano where bakers are taken through a 3-day intensive accelerated
bakers’ training course for free.
The lockdown afforded
many interested bakers the opportunity to hone their skills, prompting them to
keep on improving their craft. “Baking can be a very lucrative vocation and the
requisite requirement is the passion and will to pursue one’s dream says Ashish
Pande.”
The success
and positive feedback from bakers who attended the baking school is heartening.
Mrs. Keyede Kikelomo of Excel bakery said: “I have learnt a lot from this
training. One thing I didn’t know before the training was the high-water
absorption rate of Mama Gold which translates into extra dough which results in
extra profit per bag of flour.”
Another
participant, Mr. Ogugba Ernest of Dan Real Bakery shared that he learnt a lot
from the CFM baking school. In his words, “I have learnt the impact, good
bakery practices such as ingredients measurement, sanitation and staff management
have on the profitability of my bakery."
The World
Baking Day is celebrated globally. The commemorative event provides an
opportunity for bakers and millers to highlight the benefits of baked foods and
drive further innovation in the baked foods industry as households increasingly
pivot to wheat derivative foods due to their higher nutrition values, price
advantage and availability.
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