By Ebunoluwa Sessou

Popular chef, Hilda Bassey, also known as Hilda Baci has urged Nigerian girls to be tenacious and confident in achieving their goals in life adding that being a girl child is an opportunity given by God to change the world for the better.

Speaking during a press conference in Lagos Hilda Baci admonished the girl child to see herself as an asset that the world is waiting for.

Sharing her experience, after the 100hours cook-a-thon, Hilda Baci, disclosed that, as a young lady, her determination was to promote Nigerian cuisine globally, expand her business, and employ more hands.

Charging the girl child in believing in her dreams, Hilda Baci, said, “People believe that if you are a beautiful girl, you cannot be smart and if you are smart, you cannot be beautiful. But, I am telling you that every girl is beautiful and therefore, as a girl child, the world is expecting so much from you and we must not give up.

“I am a girl, I am beautiful and I am smart and now, I am making history. I am changing the world. How I look does not reduce the value that is my head. It is important for the girl child to understand that she must be an asset in her world. You have a brain, you have a God.

“You can be stylish and still be intelligent. Follow your dreams, value them and go for the best. You cannot sit down and expect manner to fall from heaven, you must work out your goals in life. You need to get up and get your life back.

“Tell the world that you are a smart girl and not just a girl. You are ambitious, you have a goal, you have a future and you have a dream that must be actualized. As Hilda Baci is breaking the glass ceiling, you must be ready to shatter the glass ceiling”, she said.

On her goals, Hilda Baci said, “One of my biggest goals is that I want Nigerian recipes to be propagated across the world. I want it to be a normal thing to make Egusi soup in an American environment, walk into any random supermarket and find Nigerian ingredients and not have to travel hours to one African store just to find a core ingredient.

“I still have to teach more people how to cook Nigerian foods. Hopefully, it means more people will be interested in learning how to make the meals that I made during the cook-a-thon so it still helps me to achieve my goal.

“I also want to expand my restaurant. I was already in the process of opening up to investors to come in and franchise for other countries and other parts of the world as well because I am trying to create jobs.

“It is important to me that more women know that the business that you are doing can put food on their table and make them relevant in life”, she said.

Sharing the story behind her name, Hilda’s mother, Lynda Ndukwe, said, she named Hilda after a wealthy friend she admired, and she named her son Gilbert after another affluent individual.

Reflecting on her daughter’s achievements, she recalled her culinary business ran under a canopy in the bush, serving over 300 customers daily.

“Hilda was a child then, each time she comes, she will be so anxious to serve customers. “That was what has led where she is today. It is the same thing when a medical doctor produces a medical doctor, and she is doing better than you are. I’m a caterer and I have produced an international chef”, she said.