Tayo Bolodeoku
PARTNER CONTENT
No one units out to alter Nigeria from their kitchen.
However in 2005, when Tayo Bolodeoku’s twin sons had been identified with autism, change wasn’t on the menu, survival was. So she did what resilient folks do when the world tilts sideways: she made one thing.
She baked. Each single day, she baked from her kitchen – not for revenue, not with a ten-year marketing strategy, however with the form of willpower that comes when your fingers want one thing to do whereas your coronary heart learns to breathe once more.
From these small acts of therapeutic got here one thing extraordinary – proof that ache will be reworked into goal, that sweetness will be energy, and that magnificence can rise from the damaged.
A decade later, farmers in Jos develop strawberries they by no means imagined would find yourself in premium gelato. Over 100 folks now earn their residing by means of the dream she began. A thousand Lagos college students have stayed at school due to partnerships born from that very same sweetness.
All as a result of one lady refused to let ache have the ultimate phrase.
That is how Hans & René grew to become Nigeria’s most beloved gelato story – the place remedy was pleasure, and a kitchen dream grew to become the center of a tradition that celebrates the candy life.
From Brown Containers, With Love
Mrs. B’s cupcakes, within the early days, got here wrapped in brown packing containers with see-through lids and raffia strings tied by hand. No emblem, zero technique, simply pure love wrapped in a field – and everybody who ate a chunk may inform.
So when she shared these packing containers of muffins with associates, household and fellow faculty mums, very quickly, what began as private remedy reworked into one thing no one anticipated: folks began asking for extra!
Her associates in school wished her muffins, their associates of associates wished them too and by the point Mrs. B realised what was occurring, she had a completely casual enterprise working from her kitchen – with blissful believers ready to obtain their very own packing containers of sweetness.
When the time got here to call the enterprise, Mrs. B didn’t want to rent a branding guide. She named it after the 2 individuals who made all the pieces attainable: her sons. Hans & René – or because the household is aware of them, Hanny and Rinny.
However there was extra to it – there all the time is with the issues that matter. Hans means God is gracious. René means born once more.
As we speak, these brown packing containers tied with raffia string have turn into iconic and even in 10 years of explosive progress, Hans & René has by no means misplaced that contact of intentional handmade-ness or the ritual of care as over 100 workers now carry that philosophy ahead.
What began as one lady’s act of affection has turn into a household tradition that believes excellence occurs while you care greater than the world requires you to.
Massive Desires In Italy And A Wheelchair
By 2015, although Mrs. B had constructed a profitable cupcake enterprise and the form of fame that almost all entrepreneurs dream about, she decided that may completely change the trajectory of all the pieces:
She was going to be taught gelato by means of technical coaching, publicity to greatest practices, and an actual mastery of craft.
Off she went to Italy. To Carpigiani Gelato College. Then to Le Cordon Bleu in London. Subsequently, she took programs in Dubai and even annual pilgrimages to the gelato festivals in Italy – as soon as attended in a wheelchair in 2019, simply days after breaking her leg, together with her husband pushing her by means of exhibition halls as a result of Mrs. B didn’t do something midway.
However right here’s the half that makes Hans & René totally different from each different artisanal dessert model: She didn’t go to Italy to make Italian gelato, she went to grasp the method so she may make Nigerian gelato.
This distinction modified all the pieces.
As we speak, each flavour on the Hans & René menu is a dialog between Italian mastery and Nigerian soul. Younger entrepreneurs throughout Lagos and past now imagine in the potential of constructing world-class merchandise rooted in their very own heritage as a result of this model gave permission to a complete technology to be happy with the place they arrive from whereas reaching for excellence.
Hans & René’s Malva pudding
Agbalumo Gelato: The Unconventional Italian-Nigerian Fusion
If anybody may foresee that agbalumo, the intense, barely tart fruit that Nigerians fought their siblings over on childhood streets, will make a scrumptious gelato flavour, it was undoubtedly Mrs. B!
The agbalumo sorbet took weeks to good however the second it hit the menu, one thing shifted within the air.
For the primary time, strolling right into a premium gelato store meant seeing your childhood mirrored again at you as absolutely the star – instantly it was luxurious, one thing price ready in line for and one thing refined sufficient to serve one’s most discerning associates.
The folks’s response to the agbalumo sorbet was so overwhelming, Mrs. B decided to supply and protect agbalumo year-round. She constructed relationships with farmers who had by no means imagined their fruit would find yourself in gelato and created a provide chain that honoured their work and harvests like they mattered – as a result of they do.
However the genius Mrs. B didn’t cease at agbalumo, she created with zobo, with tamarind from childhood recollections of “lickylicky”, with guava that tastes like summer season and even with boli and epa – roasted plantains with groundnuts, all by some means reworked into frozen scoops of pleasure and laughter which have served the Nigerian candy life neighborhood for years, with every flavour rigorously perfected as a celebration of our Nigerian roots.
Ardour E Attitudine: The Hans and René Technique
One hardly ever mentioned secret behind Hans & René’s enduring success is Mrs. B’s “ardour e attitudine” hiring philosophy.
She hires first for coronary heart, educating the talent later – a philosophy born from the quiet endurance of autistic parenting, and the unshakable perception that with dedication and steering, anybody can grasp a craft and construct a life rooted in dignity and goal.
This hands-on, heart-first method is why Frank, who as soon as mopped the flooring at Hans & René, now leads your entire gelato-making crew.
It’s additionally why Patricia, who joined in 2009 as a caregiver for the twins, now serves as the corporate’s Head Decorator – a testomony to what perception, alternative, and belief in folks can construct.
In truth, again in 2020 – on the peak of the lockdown, when the world held its breath and the long run felt unsure – it was Mrs. B and Patricia who turned the household eating desk right into a makeshift adorning station. By then, the dream was not simply Mrs. B’s; it had turn into theirs.
So, when Hans & René swiftly rolled out curbside pickups and cashless funds, it wasn’t simply sensible enterprise – it was the pure response of a crew sure not by contracts, however by a shared coronary heart.
In spite of everything, you may train somebody to make gelato, however you may’t train them to care.
Over ten years, Mrs. B has employed over 100 crew members. 100 folks whose complete livelihoods are tied to a dream that began in a kitchen, supported by a easy management philosophy.
AYÉDÙN: 10 Years Of Sweetness!
“When you’ve got one thing good, share it. That’s how sweetness multiplies.” – Mrs. Tayo Bolodeoku
And that’s precisely what she did!
Over ten years, celebrities have lined up subsequent to high school kids, businesspeople have pulled up in informal garments subsequent to households – all making Sunday mornings their sacred weekend ritual on the Hans & René flagship – with the straightforward perception that excellence tastes higher while you’re sharing it.
In 2019, Massive Brother Naija introduced Hans & René into thousands and thousands of Nigerian residing rooms and what began as a easy function grew to become a cultural second – instantly, everybody was speaking in regards to the gelato, the story and the girl behind it. The model had transcended retail to turn into a part of the nationwide dialog.
However it didn’t cease there.
In 2021, CNN’s Inside Africa advised the model’s story to the world as a result of they checked out what Mrs. B had constructed and understood that this wasn’t nearly gelato however a lady redefining what’s attainable while you refuse to compromise.
The Lagos State Authorities honored Mrs. B on Worldwide Ladies’s Day 2020. Not for being well-known however for doing one thing uncommon: taking her ache and remodeling it right into a platform for different folks’s pleasure.
Talking about pleasure, Lagos will always remember the primary “Hans & René Owambe” in 2019 – a joyful, vibrant celebration of Nigerian Independence Day. A celebration the place the model invited the candy life neighborhood right into a celebration of who they’re and what they’re able to.
Past the TV options, awards and unforgettable events, Hans & René has partnered with Train For Nigeria and raised over 5 million naira to assist training in underserved communities. The #40kfor365 initiative in 2024 helped 1,000 college students see brighter futures by means of the identical constant perception that when you’ve got one thing good, you share it.
Gelato has been taken to orphanages, autism programmes have been quietly supported, staying true to the origin story that began all the pieces.
As a part of its Tenth-anniversary celebration, Hans & René is deepening its legacy of coronary heart – giving again to 4 faculties throughout Lagos in a gesture that displays the model’s enduring dedication to neighborhood.
As we speak, Hans & René’s provide chain has advanced into greater than a community of producers; it’s a platform for shared progress and alternative. A farmer in Jos is not only a provider – she’s a associate in one thing larger. A small-scale ardour fruit grower now sees their harvest reworked into premium gelato, opening a market they by no means imagined attainable.
That is what unfolds when a enterprise is constructed not only for revenue, however guided by goal.
The ten-year anniversary theme is AYÉDÙN – a Yoruba phrase that carries all the pieces without delay. It means life is nice however it additionally provides a deeper nudge to search out and share pleasure, regardless of the circumstances.
With a stable basis and a decade of studying, the enterprise is now liberated to dream higher. To be extra strategic, extra formidable, extra intentional. To cease surviving and begin hovering.
Hans & René is simply getting began.
The Imaginative and prescient For The Subsequent Decade
For Mrs. B, the primary decade was outlined by survival – navigating the dizzying weight of a vertigo prognosis whereas transferring between continents, studying to adapt with out give up, and holding quick to her imaginative and prescient in a world that stored urging her to bend.
The imaginative and prescient for the following decade is totally different, greater and bolder.
Hans & René’s gelato unfold
It’s progress and affect.
Not simply in Lagos and Abuja, however all of Nigeria. Making gelato identified and liked throughout a nation that deserves to style itself in luxurious, all over the place and for everybody as a result of excellence shouldn’t be unique – it needs to be broadly celebrated.
As you learn this, the following technology are already writing their very own tales. Mrs. B’s first son is discussing enterprise technique together with her. Her daughter is captivated with neurodevelopment and neighborhood care. One of many twins has found a love for baking – persevering with the legacy.
The Farewell Ritual That Holds It All Collectively
Each single day, in each single outlet throughout Lagos and Abuja, there’s a second that occurs as clients flip to go away with melting gelato on their tongue and pleasure of their chest.
Somebody from the Hans & René crew appears them within the eye and says: “See you tomorrow.”
It’s not a gross sales technique and it’s not even actually goodbye. It’s a promise, a blessing and it’s your entire Hans & René philosophy wrapped up in three phrases.
As a result of this model was by no means nearly gelato – although the gelato is totally, undeniably distinctive.
It was about what Mrs. B discovered in her kitchen in 2005: that while you make one thing along with your entire coronary heart, while you refuse to chop corners, while you have a good time the place you come from prefer it’s the best factor on earth, while you rent folks for his or her character and train them the craft, while you keep wildly, courageously, fantastically curious, while you share your sweetness generously – Individuals style it.
They style the grace and resilience.
They style Nigeria – actual Nigeria, proud Nigeria, wonderful Nigeria – melting on their tongue.
They arrive again tomorrow. Similar time, identical place.
They usually carry their associates. And people associates carry extra associates.
Celebration Is within the Air, Lagos and Abuja!
As a result of when a lady refuses to let heartbreak be the top of the story, when she builds one thing that feeds folks, employs them, educates their kids and honors their fruit – that’s not only a enterprise or gelato, that’s pleasure and legacy.
And that’s completely, undeniably price celebrating.
Ten years.
Ten years of a lady saying “no” to adequate and “sure” to excellence. Ten years of a mom who turned her ache into another person’s pleasure. Ten years of proving that the most effective companies aren’t constructed on hype or smoke however on coronary heart.
Ten years of Frank watching and changing into a maestro. Ten years of Patricia rising. Ten years of farmers from Jos changing into companions in one thing greater. Ten years of households making Sunday mornings sacred. Ten years of 100+ workers believing in one thing they couldn’t fairly see but.
Ten years of “See you tomorrow”
To everybody who has stood in line for agbalumo, to everybody who has tasted zobo and remembered their childhood, to Frank, to Patricia, to the farmers, to the households who made this sacred…
Thanks for ten years of being a part of one thing revolutionary.
