Improvement in power will provide added impetus for Nigerian economy to grow – Onyekachi Onubogu

What’s the future of FMCG in Nigeria?

 In one word GREAT. As long as we have consumers with an ever increasing demand on their time, Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies will keep thriving and growing.

What can the government do to facilitate this growth?

Fix power. Improvement in power will provide added impetus for our economy to grow and lead to job provision for our youths which will reduce the temptation for crime.  The government needs to equip the police better and train them on how to manage policing of its citizenry. Also fix our roads so that trucks don’t break down on the roads and thieves can’t rob trucks. Finally give every Nigerian a sense of pride so together we can act as our brother’s keepers.

Promasidor seems to do lots of CSR activities year round why does the company invest so much on CSR activities?

Corporate Social Responsibility should be an integral part of any business concern. As a business we believe that it is mandatory to give back to the society in which we operate. When people in your society develop and grow, they create wealth which in turn helps grow your business concern. The reverse is also the case. As such we believe that good corporate citizenship is essential if we must achieve our short and long term business goals.

You recently launched new variants of top tea into the market how are they doing in the market place?

The new variants are doing well. We introduced the four new variants to give our ever discerning Nigerian consumers excellent products at affordable prices. Top Tea now has lemon/Lime and Ginger flavours. They are the first locally-made flavoured teas in the Nigerian market. Consumers now have a choice with 5 various presentations of the tea brands in Nigeria and at prices they can afford. We are growing the tea category with our innovations and believe we are on our way to market leadership with our brand. Top Tea really comes top when we talk of variety, taste, flavour and speed of diffusion. It’s a great brand.

What is the impact of the promos undertaken by your company for some of it’s your products this year?
 
We have had two fantastic promotions in 2012. The first was the Cowbell Choco Naija quest promotion. This was designed with two objectives in mind. The first, is to provide our consumers another reason to keep consuming the nourishing Cowbell Choco brand but more importantly to teach Nigerian of all ages about how beautiful our country is that we don’t know about. It was a fun and educational promotion that consumers loved and has led to significant growth for the brand.
 
The second promotion was the Cowbell Olympic promotion. The idea was also twofold. The first was to reward our loyal cowbell consumers with a trip to watch the Olympics live and the other was to encourage and support our athletes to excel and bring glory to our dear country. Again the promotion was a success as it rewarded our consumers and they loved it.
We, like all other Nigerians had hoped our team would have performed better than they did at London 2012 but all the same, we will keep supporting youth’s sports development so that in time our athletes will bring more glory to our nation.

Do they have any impact on the Promasidor’s brand?

The Promasidor’s corporate brand is growing driven by our excellent brands and our total commitment to our local communities and the Nation at large. Our single minded focus on developing the capabilities of our youths through our Cowbell National mathematics competition, our newly launched Painting Challenge, the Cowbell para-soccer program and also our soccer academy are testaments to our commitment to Nigeria and all this has rubbed of in entrenching the Pormasidor’s name in the minds of our consumers. Promasidor is synonymous with quality and commitment to development of our most valuable asset in this nation ‘Our Youth.’

Promasidor is known for doing promos, and overtime, it has been discovered that the CPC and even consumers have never
complained about any of your promos, what are the strategies Promasidor use to achieve this?

We are a law abiding company. We do what is right always for our consumers while adhering to the spirit and the letter of the law. We involve all the regulatory bodies in the planning of our promotions, pay all the legally stipulated costs and ensure that we reward consumers the way we say we would. Our business ethics has ensured that consumers trust us to do what we say we will do and the regulatory bodies know that as well. The right business ethic is in our DNA as a company and that will not change.

What motivated your painting challenge in schools?

The painting challenge is a new one for Promasidor. Children are at the centre of most of our activities and we have constantly sort out ways to help them develop nutritionally and academically. Art and indeed paint helps young children develop fine motor skills which are important in every child’s physical and mental development as they grow.

We also realised that as a nation we are not investing a lot in developing the creative talents of Nigerian kids and if this isn’t addressed we would loose a lot of talents. This informed our decision to pilot the first ever painting challenge by any company in Nigeria.

Our objectives are, firstly, to provide a platform for kids to have fun and interact with family. Secondly is to encourage the study and practice of fine art and painting in primary schools in Lagos and finally to help our young ones develop their fine motor skills as they grow. With this project we want the kids to have fun and hopefully we will discover the next Chief Ben Enweonwu or Chief Bruce Onobrakpeya or Mr Aina Onabolu.


In recent times, power supply has improved, how does this affect Promasidor’s bottom line?


One of the biggest operational costs for any manufacturing outfit is the cost of power. With the slight and I say slight improvement in power it can only bode well for every manufacturing company, Promasidor included. We however need a significant improvement in power supply to have any real impact on the bottom line of most manufacturing concerns.