The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Peter Ndegwa, has revealed that the company’s recent N4.7bn spirits line for locally manufactured spirits which was inaugurated in Benin has boosted the segment’s competitive advantage.
Speaking in an interview, he said “These strategic acquisitions and expansions have filled the gaps in the spirits brand base, allowing us to compete across all categories of the alcoholic beverage market in Nigeria. We remain committed to executing our productivity agenda with a strong focus on cost reduction, distribution and operational efficiencies”.
On the company’s export strategy, considering the huge market outside Nigeria, Ndegwa noted that “We are investing behind our capacity and if we weren’t thinking long term, we would not be doing that”.
“Our exports have also been expanded, and this is not because of the desire for profits. Really, we intend to access foreign exchange. We exported some of our products to countries such as Ghana, Cameroun, and so on. From these exports, we were able to use the money we earned to fund the purchase of the import.
“We were also able to reduce costs in the last two years through sourcing of raw materials locally. However, this is not always about lowering cost, especially during economic recession, though it is more sustainable long term. We source cassava and sorghum, among others, locally and have significantly moved our local sourcing from 40 to 75 per cent in the last three years. He said although there have been challenges but we still believe this is sustainable. We have also started to work with Edo State and some other Northern states in developing the value chain of the agriculture sector. For quality, we have effective processes in place, and we can get better pricing and guarantee farmers on specific prices of their farm produce.
