ADAUGO

“...and it pains me that after putting in 20 years of hard work, somebody on social media with a two-minute clip will cause so much damage. Hello everyone, my name is Maria Umeagwukadilo and I am the CEO and founder of Bon Bread. I started this business in 2006. Actually this year makes it 20 years that I have been running Bon Bread. I am a mother of two. I started Bon Bread when my life was at its lowest. At times I couldn't even pay my house rent. Over the years Bon Bread grew from three staff to 80 staff strength today and more than a hundred extended staff workers. Over the years I have str¥ggled. I have done my best to keep the business running. I have continuously strived to give my clients, my buyers, the best of the product I can produce. I don't take quality lightly. From day one I have always ensured that my products meet the standard that is recommended by NAFDAC, SON and all regulatory bodies. I continually strive for freshness. In fact, my business is one of the few bakeries that does not produce bread to be sold. We produce bread by order, which means we produce every day only the bread that has been ordered. Having explained thus far, on Monday my attention was drawn to a clip on social media. Sorry, I am analogue. I don't know much about social media, but I have young people around me, and my distributors and everyone were calling me, so my attention was drawn to it. At first I dismissed it, but persistent calls made me look into it more. I made a call to the lady who did the clip. My intention was to ask for a meeting so we could talk through it. I wanted to understand where she got the bread from and how it could have stayed two months, according to her claim. I totally agree that there are products in the market that can be h@rmful to health. Most of our food items are being ad¥lter@ted. But what I do not agree with is her holding up bread and saying my brand lasted two months. She also says she did not mention any name, but how come people were calling me? I also saw in her comment section that people mentioned Bon Bread, and she even engaged those comments. All I want is for her to show me the bread she is talking about. I just wanted to understand, but she has blocked me from speaking to her. I also want to ask the public: whenever you see Bon Bread, please buy it. Go and test it yourself. If I say it is not true, it is my word against hers. Go and test the bread. I told her, let’s go and test the bread together, but she is not taking my calls. After this video, I will post all my NAFDAC registrations for the past 20 years and all my lab tests. I have nothing to hide. I eat my bread, my staff eats my bread, my family eats my bread. I cannot feed you something that will harm your health. It pains me that after 20 years of hard work, a two-minute social media clip is causing so much damage to my business. I have never done this before. I am forced to come here to clear the air. I am still appealing to her to come forward and show me where she got her claim from. I am open to discussion and scrutiny. I also want to thank my loyal Bon Bread customers. Thank you for sticking with us. I am sure we will get to the end of this matter. We will know the truth and separate facts from li£s. Thank you very much…” - The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of Bon Bread, Maria Umeagwukadilo, has broken her silence amid the ongoing controversy surrounding a viral TikTok video that questioned the safety of her company’s bread products allegedly lasting for two months.