| Poor infrastructure bane of Nigeria’s
industrial growth – Dr Makanjuola, MD, Vitafoam
By WALE ALABI
Thursday, January 3, 2008
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For the tenth time running, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc won the
Nigerian Stock Exchange President award. This feat confirmed
the pioneer foam manufacturing brand as a formidable leader
in Nigeria’s industrial sector.
In celebration of this achievement and to unravel the secret
behind the success of Vitafoam, Daily Sun spoke with the firm’s
Managing Director, Dr Dele Makanjuola for this incisive interview.
Secret of a winning brand
Well, the simple thing is that without sounding very pompous
about it, over the years Vitafoam has been a well run and
responsible company. The company has been discharging all
its responsibilities all in the spirit of corporate governance
and in addition to that the company has consistently offered
the consumers high quality products and more so, in recent
times, a lot of holistic products are coming into the market.
So, when you take all this together, you will see that as
a brand, the company is very strong and it has a good reputation.
To a large extent, we are not surprised that the Nigerian
Stock Exchange has consistently delighted in relating with
us and all the regulations Vitafoam has adhered to.
As we mentioned, during the launch, the joy of living is giving,
so what we really mean by that is any good fortune that comes
by the way of Vitafoam, we believe the little we have we should
share it with our distributors who represent us in the market
place.
We are both partners in progress and without any doubt, the
fortune of Vitafoam is looking up now and we believe the best
thing is to share the fortune with them and that we try to
do publicly because it adds a lot more value to what we are
giving them so they feel recognized. We feel proud and it
confirms further that Vitafoam is a caring company. That used
to be our slogan in years past. We do care for our stakeholders.
The war against fake products
Talking of fakes, you mean adulteration and imitation. Well,
I will start by saying that it is a fact of life and it’s
not restricted to the foam industry and it’s not restricted
to Nigeria as a nation. You will agree with me that when you’re
doing well and you are on top, the least the competition out
there can do is to try and copy you. What I mean is that it’s
a natural occurrence but that does not mean that we will accept
it. As a known brand, we will not. We try to do everything
to minimize the activities of those who get involved in this
practice. We’re trying to do everything possible to
ensure that we fight it. How successful we are is another
ball game. But I can assure you that as a corporate body,
we are doing everything possible to minimize the effect of
adulteration. You might want to ask, “What are we doing?”
The main thing we do is that we are improving our communication
strategy because imitators thrive when there is dearth of
information in the public place. We’re doing a lot about
our communication now and then another thing that we do is
that we keep raising the standard of our quality. And thirdly,
we are always looking into the issue of getting our pricing
right, because if your price is highly competitive, it makes
it more and more difficult for adulterators to survive. So,
we are managing our price. Those are the three strategies
we’re using and so far it’s been successful. We
would have loved it, if adulterators could just disappear
overnight but that we know is not possible.
Cost of doing business
As a corporate body, one tries very hard not to get involved
in politics. Having said that, political activities indirectly
affects even the goings on in the private sector. So naturally,
we are very distressed by the non-performance of the government.
Provision of infrastructure is the direct responsibility of
any government and any government that cannot cope with it
in my own opinion, that government cannot be credited with
any worth. I can confirm to you that our uncompetitiveness
in the world market is directly related to the poor infrastructure
of the country. When you think about competition that’s
a big loss. You provide your own power, you provide your own
water. The roads are inaccessible that most of the time, distribution
will become almost impossible, communication is so poor, even
the GSM service we were all hailing a few years ago is now
becoming poor. I am certain that the quality of labour impacts
directly on the profitability of the business and that indirectly
is a reflection of our poor educational system, but you can
see that the whole thing is such a complex and interwoven
thing that you really wonder where Nigeria is going from here
because all the same we will keep at it and hopefully we will
have a solution, because it seems all the problems Nigeria
has really have to be solved simultaneously. There’s
no point providing us roads and when we cannot produce good
drivers. There’s no point providing water and there’s
no power to pump.
Unveiling new products
Vitafoam is strategizing to become a very big company. So,
we are moving beyond being known as a mattress and pillow
producer. Our dream now is to make Vitafoam a foam solution
provider, meaning all issues that surround foam, Vitafoam
wants to come in. You need foam in your house, we want you
to come to Vitafoam, you need foam in your office, we want
you to come to Vitafoam, you need foam in the agric sector,
we want you to come to Vitafoam, in the oil sector, we want
you to come to Vitafoam. Everywhere that foam is required;
Vitafoam wants to be there, that’s the reason why Vitafoam
wants to go into oil and gas. Most people are not aware of
insulation in the oil and gas industry which form a type of
foam, called rigid foam. We have the technology, so the question
is why are we not a big player there? Today, 100per cent of
the foam we use for oil and gas comes from rigid foam and
we have the technology so it’s now left for us to raise
our stake and we need the courage because to get involved
in oil and gas, you have to be very courageous and we believe
we are building that up now. Come next year, we want to be
there, so that whenever you need foam, you will come to us.
We make foam for children now, 100per cemt foam called Vita
Baby Solid. We make orthopaedic mattresses; we make orthopaedic
pillows. At the poolside as well, people want to lie down
by the pool side, we make special foams for them and if you
go to the gym, in the sports sector foam is required, should
also mentioned, soft furnishing in the house. Just look around
the house, where can we give you more comfort? Foam is synonymous
to comfort. Even at work, we want you to enjoy comfort. We’re
looking into a lot of areas and that is why we set up an R&D
(Research & Development department.) And everybody can
see the results. Everyone that has been to Vitafoam in the
last two months can see that. Any company that wants to move
forward must have an R&D dept and that’s what we’ve
done.
Glimpses of the future
Whatever Vitafoam is today, is as result of where it started.
The result of the work that was done by the past leaders is
obvious. The British actually set it up early in the 50s and
they employed some Nigerians who joined them in building up
the plant over the years and its the quality of management
that was built up by the white that has led to all this and
happily enough since they left in 2001 the process had been
so well done in the past that it works well. The tradition
is there so those of us that are just coming recently are
just running with what we met on ground. The last MD in particular
actually put together a strategy for the future and he did
a fine job so we just key in and what we are trying to do
is to implement the strategy that they have put in place and
we thank God. I believe we are not disappointing them and
they are always still at the background to support us. We
call on them. We are the younger ones and we are running with
it and I must say we enjoy running with what they have put
in place. So, the future looks very bright. All we’re
praying is that as we’re running, we do not fall but
thank fully they are always around. Our former MD who is now
the chairman and the MD that just left are always there. We
can always call on them and they are always giving us the
support we need. We are confident about the years to come.
Management style
I don’t know if I can say I have a style. I have good
people around me and that’s the key to it and they are
highly professional. To a large extent it makes managing the
business quite easy. If anybody asks me really, I am a cheer
leader. I am here to give my people support because they are
professionals by their own right, so I feel like I am a cheer
leader and I encourage them to be professionals because they
are actually the ones doing the work.
Management heroes
I’m a bit reluctant to be boxed in when it comes to
who are your heroes and all that, all I can say is I pick
here and there. I do read a lot and I try to be as observant
as possible. I work under so many managers and I pick a lot
of things from these various managers and it’s an accumulation
of these things that I have developed over the years. Yes
there have been top managers in this country that I admired
and I have interacted with and at the same time, I have read
about great managers, in foreign corporations. Though I will
desist from naming people, I can tell you that we’ve
had some great industrial leaders in the past and there are
still some today. So, I keep my ears close to the ground and
I make the best of them all.
Education and cisareer htory
About my background, the one I am most conscious of is my
secondary school, Government College, Ibadan (GCI). Those
are your formative years when you are in secondary school.
That’s the time you became whatever you are, and it
takes me time to remember which university I went to. Once
you ask me, the first thing I remember is my secondary school.
I was made there. I went to the university and studied chemical
engineering. I studied it right form first degree to the doctorate
level.
When you are young, its like you want to do something new,
something different, Chemical Engineering was the craze then
and coupled with the fact that I loved chemistry as a subject
and I was good in mathematics. I will not claim I loved maths
but I was good in maths. Chemistry was my favourite. I applied
for the course and I was given admission. I studied it and
it was quite interesting.
Hobbies
First and foremost I am a committed Christian and I belong
to the evangelical group. My Christian activities are an interest
of mine, because everyday you ask yourself, how much are you
doing for the Lord? In terms of mental unwinding, it’s
centered on that. Apart from that I read a lot. I read my
comic till now. I started reading comics since the age of
4/5 and I still do. Even when I am traveling, I read my comic.
Peanuts. That’s the best comic in the world.
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