‘My ambition is to see Nigerite products everywhere in a house’
Frank LE Bris is an engineer by training. He is a hard-nosed technocrat who joined Nigerite Nigeria Limited after a long stint with the Peugeot Group and other big corporations in Europe. Recently, LE Bris spoke to a select group of journalists in Lagos on his mission to, and growth strategies for Nigerite. He spoke also on Nigerian building materials market among other issues. CHUKA UROKO was there.
The Nigerian building materials market
The potential is very high because the economy is doing very well. When you look at the energy sector, it is very promising. The finance minister is doing very great job. I see a lot of consumers trooping into the shop. People have improved their houses with new roofs, ceiling and walls. I see great potential in the market.
What difference have you come to make in Nigerite?
I am here to support the current team; to extend our portfolio of products; increase our market share. For me, it is going to be a contract with the market; we are going to leverage on international business organizations; all the big business projects such as Eko Atlantic City, to develop the company further. Right now, Nigerite is the leader in all the diffused markets for ceiling and roofing, but we would like to be the leader for walls, sidings etc in the markets. I am here to help Nigerite to start a new era. My ambition is to see Nigerite products everywhere such that when I enter into a house, everything I see there—ceiling, walls, roofing etc that make the full house—come from Nigerite.
We are going through a transformation from a company that offers products to one that provides solutions. It is my mission too to help this transformation process. We have observed that in the solution segment of the market, there are no big players; most of the shopping malls you see around, the materials they use are not purchased locally. They bring all of them from Europe because they are not available locally. What we are therefore, trying to do is to provide those materials locally. We believe that as Nigeria is experiencing a transformation, solution is very essential.
Strategies for remaining market leader
Our strategy is to provide solutions to our customers; we are already doing it for roofing; we want to do it now for housing—the full house—including walls, partitions, cladding; internal and external parts of the house. We are moving from one-product company to solutions company.
Competitive edge amidst fake and substandard materials
Our strategy here is to stay on the quality of our product; we cannot go down to lower quality. We follow the needs of the customer who always needs something new. So, we are always out to innovate, to promote innovation. We like to be on top of the needs of the customer. For us, it is all about innovation and following the needs of the customers.
We are a company that has been there in the past 55 years. We really understand the Nigerian market and we are here for the long haul. Our knowledge of the market works for us even-though what we offer is quite expensive. We are giving much more value. We have been consistent in our product offering. In addition to our knowledge of the market, we are also offering innovative products. In terms of what we are, we are not cheap Chinese products; consumers appreciate what we offer in the market.
Plans for opportunities in Eko Atlantic City project
We intend to co-operate with all the stakeholders in the project, including the architects, the engineers, the consultants, the contractors etc to market our products. We are talking to them in order to be part of the project. We want to partner with these stakeholders. The project, you know, is a long term one.
Eko Atlantic represents the future and on the basis of that, we are thinking ahead. Before the end of this year, we will be coming up with a major innovative product in which we have invested so much. We call the product Kalsi which will be offered as a solution for façade, walling, ceiling and also for a complete dry construction process.
Because of our knowledge of the evolution of the Nigerian market, we are coming up with new products and these are products that will fit in perfectly with Eko Atlantic project. These products are modern and are being used all over the world. Most of the houses in Dubai, US and most parts of China are built with these products. We are doing everything we can to be in a better position to offer Eko Atlantic all the solution that it needs for housing and construction. By the time we are through, those who would be building in the city won’t have to go importing the materials and solutions they would use.
Nigerite addressing only the needs of the elite
I don’t think we are an elite company. Our product is for everybody. If you look at our product profile, our cash cow is the diffused market and that is for the low end market. By virtue of our location, people perceive us to be an elite company because we are located in Lagos. But majority of our products go to the semi urban areas. These products started as urban products and this is why when you go to Ikoyi, you will see some of our old products there. As at the time we started out, when you go to the villages, what you would find were thatched-roof and mud houses.
To ensure that we still retain the urban product market, we have started to produce materials that will fit into the profile of the elite in that market—Ikoyi, Victoria Island, lekki etc. Our products are offered to every segment of the market. Any customer that comes, we have something for him. If you go to the rural areas, you see people who buy our 4×4 ceiling boards and also those that buy our long span roofing sheets. So, you see that we have products for the rural poor and also for the urban elite. We are not an elite product; it all depends on how you relate to our products.
Environmental friendliness of products
This is one advantage we have over others. We have been around since the past 55 years. We understand the market. So, whatever we offer to the market take all of this into consideration.