With over two decades of experience in the manufacturing sectors across the globe, General Manager, Indomie, Mr. Girish Sharma, knows what a vibrant real sector is. In this interview with ABIOLA ODUTOLA, the marketing expert outlined the challenges and growth opportunities in the noodles market in Nigeria. Excerpts:
Aside from boosting access to fund, what other way(s) can government encourage the real sector?
I think government should ensure that the education sector is reviewed because finding skilled employees or labour for our factories has always been a concern. At Dufil-Prima Foods Limited, we overcome it by making sure we have people that fly in to train the people. But I think it would be good for the growth of the country to invest in the youth; ensure that they are trained so they can add more value to the country.
To what extent has the recession affected your production?
Recession is something that affects everyone and the group is not an exception. The challenge for us is to be able to procure enough forex to import enough materials to run our factories. I think so far we have successfully done that because we can’t afford to allow our quality to go down. Beyond that, recession has taken a toll on our numbers as well. I say this because sales are not as good as we would have liked it to be. But it’s not as bad as in the other industries I know of. The noodles industry is not really affected. I think it’s because we have enough players and it’s an extremely vibrant market. Every day, there are some new promotions and offer for the consumers.
As one of the early entrants into the Nigerian noodles market, how would you describe the market?
The Nigerian noodles market is extremely competitive. The last time I checked, there are 18 players and others that would be launching soon. I think the noodles market is one of the most competitive in Nigeria. My concern is that despite being such a competitive market, people are not investing in growing the category. How many of them are actually investing in the consumers in growing the category? Some of them are beginning to wake up because they understand that one brand alone cannot do it. Now, we have players taking up different regions, focusing on those regions and trying to invest. But even then, there’s still a lot to be done. But despite the competition, we are not losing market share as much as we could have because our consumers know us.
With 18 operators in the category, can you give the value of investment in this market?
I say this with pride, we brought noodles to Nigeria. Before we came, people didn’t know noodles and no one was investing in this category. Starting with Dufil Investment, today this industry is worth about $1billion. It employs close to 20,000 people directly; all of us put together in the industry.
What is the percentage of local raw materials to your production?
Over 80 percent of our raw materials are local raw materials. For example, Nigeria doesn’t grow wheat. You have the flour mill here, but you have to import the wheat.
Beyond the people you employ, what is the rate of your investment in Corporate Social Responsibility?
We give a lot back to the society. Dufil has partnered with a lot of communities in terms of welfare. Dufil has partnered with hospitals to provide equipment for the paediatric wards for the kids. Beyond that, we have the Indomie Independence Day Award for Heroes of Nigeria. This would be our tenth year of celebrating that. Therefore, in the area of CSR, Dufil does a lot. For instance, the group has provided artificial limbs to more than 6,000 people.
Recession has taken a toll on our numbers as well. I say this because sales are not as good as we would have liked it to be. But it’s not as bad as in the other industries I know of. The noodles industry is not really affected. I think it’s because we have enough players and it’s an extremely vibrant market
Do you export Indomie from Nigeria?
Yes, to countries within Africa, we export to Ghana, Togo and Democratic Republic of Congo. We don’t do this directly, but through some of our distributors, we export to the United States of America, United Kingdom and other countries in Europe.
What are the other challenges you face in the industry?
Definitely, security is a big challenge for us, especially as it concerns goods. As recession came in, people are hungry and this leads to several things, like theft of our trucks and other things. However, of most concern to me is timely procurement of forex, to bring in raw material so the factories don’t stop working. That for me is the biggest challenge. All other challenges, we can overcome them. Like I said, we are law abiding. So, in most of the places we have relationship with the police; so they make sure we are safe.
How do you cope with the forex challenges?
We have good relationship with some of the banks, they understand our challenges and they try to support us as much as they can. So, whenever Central Bank of Nigeria releases forex, they make sure we are able to get from it. Of course, it’s not enough, but enough to keep the factories running.
What are your expansion plans?
Now, there’s little left for us in terms of expansion, in terms of backward integration. As far as Indomie is concerned, we will continue to geographically expand our factories. As I’m speaking to you, we currently have three factories: one in Ota, Ogun State, one in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and in 2017, we built another factory in Kaduna. We are looking at the next geography that we can go to as capacity utilisation gets full.
