After numerous lockdowns, quarantining, and restricted travel, industries today recognise how important different features of their work are. As one of the most affected areas of business, the tourism industry has struggled to jump back on its feet. Education, too, has faced challenges, and tourism education has seen a significant setback. In today’s business scenarios, international hospitality education has become imperative to make a lucrative career in the post-pandemic world. Featuring one of the 10 Must Watch International Hospitality Management Institutes – 2022 from Nigeria is Hospitality Business School, Lagos, a place for budding hoteliers, chefs, restauranteurs, hospitality business owners and experienced hospitality workforce who desire to upgrade their skills.
The Hospitality Business School (HBS Hotel School) is an excellent choice for all interested in world-class hospitality education. Programmes are administered by multiple accredited international faculty in a real-life state-of-the-art facility situated in the heart of West Africa, Lagos, Nigeria. The world-class hotel school programmes offer more without the costly sacrifices associated with studying abroad to hospitality investors, the workforce seeking an upgrade, school leavers interested in hospitality and others seeking a switch in their career.
Avant-Garde in Education
In line with the knowledge of the hospitality industry’s needs and with the passion for releasing result-oriented students, the courses at HBS are primarily hands-on practical in real-life, individualised and well-equipped facilities. Inside the HBS is a fully individualised audio-visual Kitchen for the School of Culinary Arts, an amphitheatre audio-visual Business Class for the School of Entrepreneurship and Management, a fully individualized audio-visual kitchen for the School of Patisserie and a fully individualised audio-visual Bar & Lounge and fully individualized Bar for School of Bartending and Wine study. Students will also find an academic paradise with a syndicate room audio-visual Business class for the School of Entrepreneurship and Management.
To keep the students up to date with the industry trends, the college has a fully furnished hotel room for hotelier housekeeping practice, a standard hotel front desk for hotelier Front office practice, and a see-through fully furnished audio-visual theory class for schools of Culinary Art and Patisserie. It also houses a purpose-built Barbeque pit for the School of Culinary Arts, a ‘Chameleon restaurant floor’ with a variety of furniture to set up variety of Restaurant concepts; for the School of Entrepreneurship and Management and an Alfresco for general student’s hangout and for School of Entrepreneurship and Management. HBS provides fully furnished apartments/ rooms and hostel/dormitory facilities for out-of-station students.
“Importance of collaboration between industry and academics cannot be overemphasised as almost all today’s students are industry people tomorrow; so collaboration to bridging knowledge and industry practice shouldn’t be optional but a MUST,” shares Dr. Mekwuye Eric, CEO at HoReCaBB Mentors (HM) and a Chief Faculty, Hospitality Business School, Lagos. He adds, “At the HBS, we are very intentional in maintaining a documented relationship with hospitality brands and are willing to go with more reputable institutions around the globe.”
Recent collaborations for student industry practice and internship include but are not limited to Sheraton hotels Lagos, Black Bell Lagos, Eko Hotels & Suites Lagos, Eric Kayser Lagos, BWC Hotels Lagos, Golden Tulip Port Harcourt, Radisson Lagos, Association of Professional Chefs Nigeria (APCN), Women in Nigeria (WIHN), Global Foodservice Initiative, USA (GFI, USA), Chefs Association of Ghana (CAG), (Hospitality And Tourism Association of Nigeria (HATMAN), Best of Gastronomy, France.
“Understandably, our industry placements (internship) are for budding hoteliers, chefs and restauranteurs. We record 100 per cent placements, and as a matter of fact, hospitality brands are constantly on queue for both internship and recruitment,” informs Dr Mekwuye. Currently, HBS has interns in Radisson hotels, Eric Kayser, Golden Tulip, Eden life, BWC hotels, Sheraton hotels & Towers etc. “As of date, through our “Fish from the pond”, we have almost 10 students on part-time work (Wednesdays to Sundays) since the school runs Mondays to Wednesdays. For these brands, that’s a strategy for picking the students ahead of others,” he adds.
Top Notch Execs
As a matter of policy, a top criterion for HBS faculty members is extensive hands-on industry experience, international exposure, passion for passing knowledge and possession of teaching skills. One of the reasons is simply that they teach not ‘book-knowledge’ but based on passage knowledge.
As a student at HBS, learners understand that Respect-for-the-Individual is a part of their core values and culture. “It is based on our knowledge that hospitality industry is built on hospitality itself; also that hospitality jobs are hard and time-consuming, developing the culture of having fun responsibly while delivering is key to building a successful career,” shares Dr. Mekwuye.
The Hospitality Business School, Lagos, believes so much in creativity. They advocate and practice teaching principles and techniques that help students grow their creative minds. For instance, the School of Culinary Arts has a carefully designed curriculum that allows the students to express their creativity and understanding of principles and techniques learnt through carefully organised #HBSStudentCookingCompetition, student-led classes, #HBSLagosExpressYourselfDay, and HBS Fusion Cooking.
In the free restaurant set-up course, all HBS professional diploma students will get to set up a restaurant organisational structure that will assign roles/tasks based on a chosen restaurant and bar concept. They go through the entire gamut, including pre-opening and eventual operation with live dinners at various restaurants, lounges and bars inside the school for profit and loss, by themselves! “The idea is simply to expose them to the reality of setting and running an F&B business, just so we raise more entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs. And the result has been phenomenal – over 10 restaurants opened by our Alumni members within 4 years both Nigeria, USA; and numerous doing well as employees (Intrapreneurs) across the world including Canada,” informs Dr Mekwuye.
In line with HBS’s philosophy of giving more than bargained for and getting students industry-ready, all professional diploma learners get the additional courses for free. It is fully sponsored by the #HBSLagosScholarship. This includes the HBS Food Safety post-covid-19, which is separately certificated, and the HBS Mini-MBA, which includes modules 1 and 2 of the 16-module course. HBS also provides a basic restaurant set-up course and the opportunity to join fellow students to set up and run the HBS Chameleon restaurant, al fresco dining and Bar & lounge for profit and loss. The college insists on food handlers test for ALL its students, with medical report and certificate issued and this is fully funded by the #HBSLagosScholarship. The students also get opportunity to engage in Cooking competition with prizes and a direct membership opportunity to join various professional associations in partnership with the HBS.
With a Mission to build world-class professional education with a cutting-edge solution and a vision to join the league of the world’s top 5 (five) preferred professional hospitality education centres with Alumni members setting the world’s record in global top hospitality brands, HBS has genuinely deserved its place in being one of the best hospitality colleges in the world.
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