Primlaks driven by export of packaged foods, 100% local inputs sourcing

Despite economic slump, Primlaks Nigeria Limited is being driven by export of well-processed and packaged frozen yams and plantains. This has enabled the company to earn foreign exchange at a time many manufacturers are desperately searching for it for importation of inputs.

The company has also become an off-taker for yam, plantain and chillies farmers, sourcing all of its inputs locally.

At a tour of Primlaks’ facility at Amuwo-Odofin in Lagos last Thursday, it was gathered that the firm was already exporting the products to the United Kingdom while targeting several other countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia to meet the demands of Africans in the Diaspora.

The foods are also available in the country at retail shops such as at Shoprite, and Spa, among others.

The frozen foods have enormous advantages for the middle-class locals living in major cities that are often bogged down by pressures of combining work and family.

It was also gathered that the packaged foods known as Simpli were already being accepted by Nigerians and other Africans in the Diaspora desperately in search of local dishes. Owing to the growing demand, the group’s investment in the foods section is set to hit N2 billion within the shortest possible time.

“Our target is to have a plant like this in many more places across Nigeria,” said Anil Hennani, group managing director of Primlaks Nigeria Limited, at the factory tour of the Bank of Industry (BoI) currently led by Waheed Olagunju.

“The shelf life of our products is 18 months, but we can still do more than that. We preserve our yams and plantains properly without the use of preservatives, additives or sugar,” Hennani said.

According to him, the firm was already guaranteeing price and supply for local farmers, adding that the company was discussing with other farmers that would supply inputs for the factory.

He further said the company was looking for partners across the world, stressing the need for Nigerians to key into the products which were healthy and pure. He promised to employ more Nigerians, saying that it was only the most sensible thing to do.

Waheed Olagunju, acting MD/CEO of BoI, said the development finance institution was attracted by the company’s involvement in processing and competitive orcommodity-based industrialisation, which was one of the national strategies of the Federal Government.

“This is a diversified company. We finance them in the area of iron and steel and other sectors. They are now coming in to see what they can do in agro processing. They have an application with us and we are currently looking at it.  Our coming here is part of the appraisal process—to see firsthand how they go about processing.  They took us round showing us how yams are brought into this place, processed, peeled, frozen, packaged and then exported. We also had a taste of what they produce here and saw the demonstration,” Olagunju narrated.

According to the BoI MD, the Diaspora population was high, adding that the export potential of yams and plantains was enormous just as the foreign exchange generation capacity was substantial.

“These are some of the multiplier effects we look at when we finance projects. We look at the possibility of employing more Nigerians with processing.  The more raw materials they buy, the more they stimulate primary production and create jobs. We look at the logistics too.  Whatever they produce here will be transported. So transporters too will make money. Then whatever they produce will be shipped abroad. So vertically or horizontally, the impact is quite considerable. That’s why it is said that the multiplier effects in agriculture are highest relative to other areas,” the BoI MD said.

“So this is what we have seen in action here—yam, plantain, pepper and a lot of things are available in the country. We have been able to identify that there are huge supply gaps,” he further said.

According to him, the prices of chillies was very high but supply not as high as it ought to, meaning that more people were needed to farm chillies.

He said this was why he was convinced that unemployment in Nigeria was artificial, saying that if more Nigerians were involved in pepper, yam and plantain production, more jobs would certainly be created.

“This means there is a whole lot of demand to be met. We are being told that we are not producing enough fruits in Nigeria that will sustain viable commercial fruit juices in this country. So we need to roll up our sleeves, go back to the farm and produce a lot of these products that can be processed,” he stressed.

He added that the bank would try to bring in its SME customers into Primlaks’ value chain to see how they would forge a good growth alliance.

“An example is Thelma Farms in Ogun State. Thelma Farms will supply some of their inputs, and some of their wastage will serve as inputs for Thelma Farms. Yam peels can serve as animal feeds for Thelma Farms to feed its livestock.  We have a lot of packaging SMEs that can produce the packaging requirements. These are some of the things we are discussing with them before they can access BoI’s line of credit, which is subsidised by the Federal Government. We have to ensure that a number of SMEs are plugged into the supply chain so that the development impact of our loans to them at 10 percent will also be felt by SMEs,” he stated.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU    

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