Towards making African hospitality depicts it indigenous nature, the owners of Hospitality Business School (HBS), a bespoke instructional training and consulting hospitality institution with focus on building hospitality workforce that will become world class professionals, Dr. Eric Mekwuye has said that hospitality is about service, and African hospitality should be delivered in an African oriented or centric way.

Mekwuye said this in Lagos, during the recent graduation ceremony of students of HBS. According to him, this is a revolutionary move to bring back traditional African hospitality service.

“Civilisation makes us as Africans feel like we are learning from the Western world but it is not true. One of the things about hospitality is that it must be authentic hospitality and functional, and that is what we teach at Hospitality Business School. Gone are the days when fast foods were delivered in a borrowed culture and style. People are now asking for ethnic food delivered in a fast way. And that is what I call fast casual. You can pick ethnic food, different food, some continental and deliver it fast in a powerful ambience.”

Speaking about the graduating students, Mekwuye said: “Majority of the students and graduates today are big players in the Nigerian economy, from oil to banking, hospitality, just name it.

Some of them are big bosses on their own and they enrolled in the school because they had a void they wanted to fill. Some are passionate about restaurants because they love giving good food. This is why they came to HBS to learn. Amongst them also are school leavers. The minimum age for admission here is 16 years.”