When Hilda Effiong Bassey, popularly known as Hilda Baci, first captured headlines in May 2023, it was not because of her restaurant in Lagos or her growing online following. It was because she attempted to cook for 100 continuous hours to set a Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon.
After review, Guinness officially confirmed her record at 93 hours and 11 minutes, deducting time due to an overlong rest break. Though later surpassed, the feat made her a cultural icon and a symbol of Nigeria’s restless creative energy.
A year later, Baci was at the centre of another record-breaking event: preparing the largest pot of jollof rice, organised in partnership with Gino, a food brand under GBfoods. At a time when national morale has often been tested by economic hardship, the event became a potent mix of spectacle, marketing, and cultural diplomacy.
The project was more than a publicity exercise. It demonstrated how a young chef and a global brand could collaborate to turn a Guinness certificate into a story of national pride, community celebration, and corporate strategy.
The logistics were staggering. The pot, specially constructed for the event, was over six metres wide. Flames fuelled by 1,200 kilograms of gas roared beneath it. Teams worked in shifts, stirring rice with paddles the size of oars. Over 8,780 kilograms of jollof rice emerged, eventually served to more than 16,600 people.
The ingredients read like a supply chain case study: more than 2,600 kilograms of tomatoes, hundreds of kilograms of chicken, beef, and fish; thousands of litres of oil and spices. Farmers, processors, transporters, engineers, and cooks were all part of the chain. The event turned cooking into a carefully choreographed piece of industrial theatre.
Behind the spectacle lay a serious engineering problem. Cooking at that scale meant developing new safety measures, sourcing industrial burners, and calculating cooking times so that rice grains would remain edible rather than clump into paste. As videos circulated on social media, what might have been dismissed as a publicity stunt gained legitimacy as a demonstration of Nigerian ingenuity.
For Gino, the partnership was a masterstroke in brand storytelling. Competing in Nigeria’s crowded seasoning and tomato mix market, the company sought an association that could resonate beyond billboards. Baci’s youthful charisma and her Guinness reputation offered exactly that.
“This is more than marketing; it is a celebration of the resilient Nigerian spirit,” said Oreoluwa Atinmo, Marketing Director of GBfoods Africa, in interviews around the event.
The strategy was to embed the brand within a cultural moment rather than simply advertise products. By underwriting the event, Gino positioned itself as both patron and participant in a national celebration.
The timing amplified the marketing value. Nigerians have long engaged in the “jollof wars,” a playful yet serious culinary rivalry with Ghana and other West African nations over whose jollof rice is superior. By cooking the world’s largest pot of the dish, the company and its partner chef claimed a symbolic victory for Nigeria.
Sceptics were quick to ask whether the costs justified the effort. Renting space, constructing giant pots, sourcing tonnes of food, managing logistics, and mobilising thousands of volunteers did not come cheap. Yet the economics of branding often defy linear accounting.
According to reports from the press, the event drew attention across mainstream and social media. The equivalent advertising value for the brand was far greater than the outlay. The Guinness certificate became a marketing asset, a symbol of quality and ambition.
Baci, too, consolidated her reputation. Having already become a household name with her first record attempt, she now demonstrated that her appeal could extend beyond endurance cooking into large-scale cultural events.
For a young chef and entrepreneur, it was another layer in building a personal brand with regional and perhaps global resonance.
The act of feeding over 16,000 people was itself a narrative. In a country where food insecurity remains a pressing concern, the symbolism of abundance was powerful. The organisers emphasised that no food was wasted: meals were distributed to communities, charities, and participants.
Critics on social media pointed to lapses in taste consistency and hygiene. Others questioned whether such resources might have been better deployed in tackling chronic hunger. But those critiques also underscored the point: the event had become a national talking point, provoking debate about food, culture, and corporate responsibility.
As TVC News and others reported, the narrative was less about perfect culinary execution than about symbolism, about Nigeria demonstrating its capacity to pull off something audacious and celebratory amid economic challenges.
Events like this highlight the role of food in what scholars call the cultural economy: the space where tradition, commerce, and identity intersect. Jollof rice is more than a dish; it is an emblem of West African identity, contested and celebrated across borders.
By situating itself within that discourse, Gino was not just promoting seasoning cubes. It was aligning the brand with memory, identity, and pride. For Baci, it was a continuation of her story as a cultural entrepreneur who uses food to generate business and symbolic capital.
The LinkedIn commentary that followed, from professionals, marketers, and everyday citizens, underscored this dimension. The event became a case study in how brands can embed themselves within cultural narratives rather than merely selling products.
Guinness World Records has long been a theatre for spectacle, but rarely do such records carry deep cultural meaning. Nigeria’s record was different. It resonated as a feat of logistics and a statement of identity.
The Guinness listing formalised the achievement, but the real impact was how it was received locally. The event offered a moment of respite, a shared celebration in a period marked by economic strain and political uncertainty.
It also served as a reminder of the power of partnerships: a young chef and a corporate brand created an event that neither could have achieved alone.
What lessons can African businesses draw from this? First, marketing can transcend advertising when it connects to cultural identity. Second, scale and audacity can generate global attention even for local products. Third, collaboration between youthful influencers and established corporations can create narratives more powerful than either could alone.
For AgroCentric, the story also ties back to agriculture itself. The tonnes of rice, tomatoes, oil, and spices used were not abstract figures. They represented the work of farmers, processors, and distributors. Behind the Guinness certificate lay an entire ecosystem of agricultural labour and logistics.
Ultimately, the record-breaking jollof rice pot was more than a meal. It was a form of cultural diplomacy, a statement of resilience, and a study in marketing strategy.
Baci may not have set out to be an ambassador for Nigerian food systems, but she has become one. And for Gino, the Guinness certificate was not just a plaque for the wall but a passport into the cultural economy of Nigeria and beyond.
As Nigerians queued for plates of rice, they were part of more than a meal. They were part of a national story in which food, culture, and commerce merged to remind the world that Nigeria still knows how to celebrate with audacity even in difficult times.
