PR, Branding and Business Pitches at Africa Food Week London
Africa Food Week London, organised by esSense 13, was a week-long program celebrating African dining experiences in London. The week long program was held between March 20-24 and included a panel event, pop ups , mastermind seminar sessions and a "Dragon's Den" style food business pitch event. The team behind this event is esSense 13, a social enterprise that focuses on promoting African food, its vision is to create a community of entrepreneurs and partners dedicated to the food space, while raising the next generation of chefs, restaurateurs, and food entrepreneurs from across Africa and the African diaspora.I attended the Little Baobab pop up in Hackney which featured live music and a fantastic array of Senegalese food.
On the penultimate day of the program of events I had the pleasure of hosting a mastermind PR seminar for food start up businesses.
Now happening at #AfricaFoodWeekLondon
How to Use PR to promote your food brand courtesy of @AriatuPR pic.twitter.com/peXoBunw6r— esSense 13 (@essense_13) March 23, 2018
Crashed the foodie event organised by @essense_13 and getting so much insight from @ronkelawal on PR and marketing for startups. Couldn’t resist a selfie 😁 #AfricaFoodWeekLondon pic.twitter.com/38XrgOCiEn
— Hephzi A Tagoe FRSA (@hanat_akordor) March 23, 2018
After a stimulating and energetic series of seminar sessions I hosted the food business pitches event.
Many thanks to @ronkelawal, of @AriatuPR, for effortlessly running the program, and to our esteemed judges:
Harriet, @impacthubkcLeslie, @westafricacooksVincent, Exotica FoodsSuzanne, @SuzanneTiega—#AfricaFoodWeekLondon #Londonevents pic.twitter.com/miZthxVJPk— esSense 13 (@essense_13) March 25, 2018
There was a great live cooking demo by Cooking with Caz in which we had the opportunity to sample sadza bites (which were delicious).
The pitches were excellent and the food entrepreneurs who pitched were all fantastic.
Well done to the participating teams- @olumofoods, @marieslittlejar, @SeyisKitchen and @VeganNigerian. The diversity in your offerings, the quality & passion for what you do came through brilliantly. African food is not a trend, it’s here to stay!—#AfricaFoodWeekLondon pic.twitter.com/Akk0DSWavo
— esSense 13 (@essense_13) March 25, 2018
Africa Food Week London proved that there is a need for a collective approach to build the brand awareness of the variety and diversity of African food and African food entrepreneurs in the UK and internationally. I enjoyed being part of this event and I was impressed by the scope and scale of it. The esSense 13 team did a fantastic job this year and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Africa Food Week London.