Erisco Foods mulls expansion, targets 1m mark
Erisco Foods Limited, a Lagos-based producer of tomato pastes, seasonings and other food products, is planning to expand its operations to other parts of the country to grow its margins and support the federal government’s job creation drive.
The firm is also planning to increase tomato paste production from 450,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) to one million mtpa, the company has said.
” We are already expanding,” said Eric Umofia, chairman, Erisco Foods, during the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s facility tour of his firm.
“We are looking at taking our investment to katsina, Jigawa and Zamfara because we want to create jobs. Very soon Nigerians will see that indigenous companies can transform the nation’s economy. We do not want a situation where the government gives foreigners all the leverage, thereby killing the local capacity. If the government supports local manufacturing, other investments will come in. But we need money to operate, though,” Umofia said.
According to him, the company is planning to ramp up production to one million mtpa, although Nigeria’s demand is estimated at 600,000 mtpa.
” Our next target is to shoot up our operations to about 1 million metric tonnes per annum and export the rest. In the next 18 months, if we get funds from the CBN, when next you come to our factory, you will be surprised at what you see,” he said.
During the tour, the CBN lauded the company for the judicious use of the fund given to it.
Paul Eluhaiwe, adviser to the CBN governor on agric finance, who undertook the tour, said funding indigenous investments was the surest way to achieve economic development, noting that it would be difficult to eradicate poverty, generate income, enhance the gross domestic product (GDP) without increased productivity.
“We are proud that Nigerians have begun to have a rethink on how we can boost the nation’s productivity. What we have seen today shows that there is a great improvement and lots of work have been done here in terms of machinery, capital expenditure and level of capacity. What we are seeing here is the fourth largest tomato paste company in the whole world. This is the kind of investment we want to encourage in Nigeria,” Eluhaiwe said, while urging commercial banks to finance the real sector of the economy as this would help drive local investments to create job opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths.
“We want our banks to see the reason why they must finance the real sector of the economy. If we do not do this, nobody will. We need indigenous businesses, entrepreneurs and banks to support local investments. This company has increased its staff strength from 500 to over 1500 workers and this is the surest way to help solve unemployment problem in the country,” he said.
The chairman of Erisco also enjoined Nigerians to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods as locally made products were much better than most imported products. He said the firm had been able to access about N2 billion from the CBN, stressing that the CBN’s restriction of foreign exchange for certain items had helped the firm in getting its goods out to the market. He also said that indigenous investment had the capacity to transform the Nigerian economy.
ODINAKA ANUDU