By Dipo Olowookere
In a bid to promote local foods and strengthen the domestic market, Heritage Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s most innovative banking services providers, has sponsored Season-3 of Bukas & Joints, hosted by Olisa Adibua, a respected media personality in the country.
The launching of the screening of the Season-3 television food show in Lagos on Wednesday was a well-attended media event organised by Biola Alabi Media, the producers of the programme in collaboration with Heritage Bank.
The featuring of the event will start screening on African Independent Television (AIT) on Sunday, February 5, 2017 from 7pm to 7.30pm.
The Season-3 was screened in Enugu in the South East and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In the South East, the local bukas that the production team visited included Ntachi-Osa Canteen, in the New Haven of Enugu, Emily Restaurant and New Berries Park while those visited in Abuja were the Bean Bag located at Ramaya Royal Park on Ahmadu Bello Way, Iya Oyo Kitchen based in Wuye and a Kilishi joint located in Area 1 Garden in Garki, Abuja.
Group Head of Corporate Communications of Heritage Bank, Mr Fela Ibidapo, said the bank was proud to be associated with the programme in order to promote local foods and strengthen the domestic market.
He hinted that since indigenous food is part of our heritage, the bank will continue to chart a path forward to increasing local food production and processing, while supporting job growth and healthy communities.
He assured that the bank would continue to support the programme and also others that relate to the Nigerian heritage.
Speaking on his experience on the new season, Mr Adibua said the whole essence of the show was that through that the travels and discoveries exposed them to the lifestyles of the people they meet in different cities.
“I love this season because I love the idea of meeting different people and going to different locations,” Mr Adibua said, adding that they intend to go to more places in Nigeria and even outside Nigeria to showcase the African cuisines to the outside world just like what the Chinese and others had done.
Also speaking Mrs Biola Alabi, the Chief Executive Officer of Biola Alabi Media commended Heritage Bank for supporting the programme right from the inception.
The Lunch with Olisa show is a new food-related show in which MrOlisa Adibua travels the breadth of the continent in search of authentic African cuisines.
Mr Adibua takes his audience on a journey of culinary delight, as he explores a variety of foods such as Ofada rice, Amala, Tuwo, Masa, Moin-Moin and more.
The show features not only food, but also real people who work behind the scenes and ensure that the food is always ready to feed Nigerians, those famished as well as those looking for that unique gastronomical experience.
These entrepreneurs are found everywhere throughout Nigeria – under trees, at food stalls and roadside kiosks.
The show was put together by Biola Alabi Media (BAM), an African media company that develops and monetizes content for Pay TV, Free to Air (FTA) television channels, OTT (Over-The-Top) TV and VOD (Video-On-Demand).
Heritage Bank, through its MSME account aims to help MSMEs grow their businesses. The proposition is categorized into three different groups: Heritage MSME Business classic with a maximum annual debit transaction of N50 million, Heritage MSME Business pro with a maximum annual debit transaction of N100 million and the Heritage MSME Business premium with a maximum annual debit transaction of N250 million.
The bank is one of the participating financial institutions in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) Fund which was launched on August 19, 2014 in recognition of the significant contributions of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sub-sector to the economy.
Adedapo Adesanya