Bourn Factor: Cadbury Nigeria Hones, Rewards Students’ Talents

Uchechukwu Nnaike

Cadbury Nigeria Plc, producers of Bournvita cocoa beverage recently rewarded the top three winners of its maiden Bourn Factor Talent Hunt Competition.

The winners were unveiled at a media parley held at the head office of the company in Lagos. Mona School, Sapele, Delta State, won the grand prize of N3 million; Difference Academy, Ile-Ife, Osun State, came second and won N2 million, while Faith Heritage Gold Schools, Abeokuta, Ogun State, got N1 million as the third-place winner.

Announcing the winners, the Managing Director, Mrs. Oyeyimika Adeboye said the company holds in high esteem, efforts by the federal government to ensure youth development in Nigeria. In this regard, she said Bournvita, as a brand is committed to supporting the government through initiatives like the Bourn Factor Talent Hunt. “Part of our value in Cadbury is to love our consumers and our brands.

“As a business, we are not only concerned about making money from our communities, but we are also supporting people in the communities to grow and develop as a people. The idea of Bourn Factor was generated while we were thinking about how we can pay back those who are buying our products and mainly for our younger children. Looking at the population of Nigeria, over 60-65 per cent are under the age of 14 and that is a big catchment area for our business. We want to make sure we touch the lives of these children and nourish them for the future.”

Adeboye added: “We are proud of where we are today and for me it is a start of a journey. In the near future, we hope to come up with more ideas that would connect with our consumers. According to her, the company is in collaboration with Helen Keller International (HKI) for CSR, “which helps us to touch our communities in a way that is transparent and will not distract our business. We agree that the future of our nation is in the hands of our children. Therefore, if we keep collecting money from the parents and do not do something beyond that, then we might not be helping the children in our communities.
While congratulating the winners, she said, “we are looking forward to more schools winning in our subsequent editions and many more children touched by our brand Bournvita.”

Speaking on behalf of the winners, the Head of Administration at Mona School, Mrs. Ejiro Akinyomi said the schools are happy to be associated with Bourn Factor because the competition afforded them an opportunity to discover the talents in their students.
“When our parent representative told us about the Bourn Factor competition, the school management considered the proposal and decided to give it a trial.”

Akinyomi said her school produced branded T-shirts for the competition, adding, “although some of our parents were skeptical about the process, we eventually engaged with the children to convince their parents. Today, we are the first prize winner and we are very glad.”
In her remarks, the Senior Category Manager, Cocoa Beverage, West Africa, Ifeoma Chuks-Adizue, said the brand appreciates the cooperation of the management of the participating schools, particularly for giving the students the time required to complete the process of the competition.

She said: “Cadbury Bournvita believes that there is a seed of greatness in every child, which manifests through academic prowess or some other unique gifts and talents. In reinforcing this belief, Cadbury Bournvita decided to provide a platform for the children to display some of the unique gifts and talents they possess with the opportunity to win fantastic prizes for their schools.

“We thank the schools that participated in this competition for giving their students the chance to share their unique talents and showcase them to the world. About 183 schools entered the 2019 competition, submitting over 800,000 wraps and containers. We eventually narrowed down to the top 10 schools and by December 2019, five schools made it to the live audition. The final selection was based on the video clips that were shared and the talents that the children displayed. Today, we are celebrating the final three. These winners represent millions of Nigerian children who, if given the opportunity, are willing to contribute their quota to Nigeria’s growth.

“The most important purpose of this competition is not only to showcase talents, but also to consolidate and build sustainable communities across Nigeria. For instance, we encouraged the winners to adopt orphanages within their area, where they could also give back to children in those orphanages and make them happy. Truly, we can learn a lot from these kids because their ideas were fantastic.”