NESTLE DEEPENS COFFEE CONSUMPTION CULTURE IN CAMPUSES

Nestle Nigeria Plc has taken a step ahead to warm its Nescafe brand into the minds of Nigerian students with the initiative of establishing a coffee shop at tertiary institutions of learning. This is in line with brand owner earlier introduced global campaign, tagged ‘Good food Good life,’ hence students at various campuses where the brand has already established coffee shops have been encouraged to take the opportunity for their entrepreneurial development.
Explaining the motive behind this development, Kais Marzouki, head of region, Nestle Central Africa, who visited Nescafe coffee shop located within the Guest House of the University of Lagos, said “the company’s aim in setting up the shop is to enable students grow their business skills.”
Sited at a strategic place within the school premises, Kais explained that this would enable the youths to imbibe the culture of coffee preparation and consumption. It was also gathered that based on its location (school premises), students enjoyed discount on prices of coffee to allow them the opportunity of enjoying the benefits of coffee.
“We intentionally considered campuses the ideal location for our coffee shops to entrench the love between the brand and the students as well as giving them the opportunities to learn essential business skills. By doing this, we are touching lives as well as promoting good culture of taking coffee,” Kais said.
While expressing his appreciation to the management of UNILAG, Dharnesh Ghordon, managing director/CEO, Nestle Nigeria, stated that getting a good space for the shop had always been a challenge, adding that the management was impressed with what they have in the campus.
“We can’t but appreciate the management of the University of Lagos for the space provided for this project, because having a good location on campus has always been a challenge but here we get an environment that is conducive and big enough to attend to many students,” Dharnesh said.
The managing director, who disclosed that similar shops were located in five Nigerian universities, said feedback from the campuses revealed that students appreciate the initiative because of the opportunity it gives them to study, socialise and relax after a tasking class work. He also revealed that the company will continue to place similar shops at other campuses in Nigeria.
According to the CEO, the shops, which are in most cases run exclusively by students, have so far been located at the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, the University of Ibadan, the University of Calabar, and the University of Benin.