As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and efforts to raising the standard of education in Nigeria, leading biscuit company, Sona Agro Allied Foods Limited, has taken students on a factory tour of its company, explaining to them the processes involved in manufacturing of biscuits.
The Students of Sparkling Minds Educentre, Lagos who were on an excursion to the company’s factory at Ota, Ogun State were taken round the state-of-the-art biscuit factory to see the production processes and practically view and observe what they have been taught in school about biscuit manufacturing.
It is noteworthy that the biscuits market is growing remarkably in the country due to the growing young population, who are the industry’s primary target. The global biscuits market is expected to reach $125 billion by 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7% according to market insights released by Mordor Intelligence.
Speaking on the visit, the Human Relations/ Administrative Manager, Sona Agro Allied Foods, Alayande Lateef said the company sees the visit as part of its CSR activities and also an opportunity to interact with its customers, the children, who consume biscuits most.
“As part of our corporate social responsibility, we want to ensure that our upcoming generations are conversant with how biscuits are made and if you look at it, the kids are our major patronizers, they eat much of biscuits than any other person you will think of. So, it is just an appropriate thing to ensure that they are conversant with the factory setting in which all these food products are being produced especially our own biscuit.” he pointed.
Applauding the company for the world class facilities and hygiene environment, Head, Sparkling Minds Educentre, Ilupeju, Lagos, Olufunmi Adefuye explained that the company facilities and production processes surpassed their expectation.
“It actually surpassed our expectation. We did not know it was this large (factory) and they produce so much and they sell as much as 50,000 cartons a day. This is large and impressive.”
Excited at what she saw, Moyinoluwa Adefuye, a junior senior secondary student of the school said that the knowledge acquired at the factory, which includes the movement of raw materials to the mixing section to molding section, oven end, cooling section, packaging section, and store section, through a mechanized process has enriched her knowledge on manufacturing.
Elijah Olayinka, a senior secondary school student commended Sona Agro Allied Foods for the opportunity. “I like the way the company is, the production processes, packaging and the way everything is being done. I will like to say a big thank you for allowing all of us from Sparkling Minds to come and visit this company, thank you.”
Sona Agro Allied Foods Limited produces Sona Digestive, Thin Crackers Biscuits, Sona Krispee, Sona Choppy’s, Sona Bites, Sona Ginger Delight, Golden Fairy Vanilla Wafer, Sona Choco Cream and Duo Chocolate Wafers.
Olusola Bello
