Wemy Industries: Future of Nigeria’s FMCG space

With an annual turnover of $15 million and a possibility of growing revenue to $1 billion in a decade, it will not be overstating the fact that Wemy Industries Limited is the future of Nigeria’s Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market.

Wemy Industries, founded in 1978, is a manufacturer of adult and baby diapers, baby oil and towels underpads, among others, sold under the popular Dr Brown’s and Nightingale brand names.

Unlike many local businesses which go under as soon as their founders die, Wemy has outlived A.W Odunaiya, its founder, and is currently in the second generation phase, under the management of Adedoyin Paul Odunaiya.

The company is the first and only serious indigenous manufacturer of these hygiene products, competing effectively with multinationals in the space.

“We need to have a nation where hygiene standards are better,” Adedoyin Paul Odunaiya, managing director, said in an interview with BusinessDay weekend in Lagos.

“Our products reduce maternal mortality because they encourage hygiene. We are in the business of adding value to people’s lives,” Odunaiya said.

The growth of the company has been impressive since 2011, when Paul Odunaiya joined as managing director, as turnover has grown from N500 million to $15 million, while staff strength has surged from 120 to 400.

While the company plans to go public in the next four years, it also has 22 experts in the quality control department and plans to compete with cheap imports from Asia with high quality.

“We need support from the government to cushion the effect of such import, but we believe the best way to compete with China is through the market,” he said.

Though most of the raw materials of the company are imported, the company says the country is in the processing phase of industrialisation and looks forward to the raw materials phase when locally available inputs will be developed to reduce costs and improve margins.

Headwinds and elections also affected the firm between December 2014 and March 2015, resulting in reduction in its prices. The firm is also looking to diversifying into shea butter processing and wants to re-start export of its products to the rest of Africa.

Like many manufacturers, the firm is looking forward to having a gas plant to reduce the impact of power outages and reduce cost, having been spending an average of N4 million on alternative energy sourcing monthly.

For a firm that has grown rapidly owing to entrepreneurial thinking and innovation of the management team, one thing is certain: It needs more finance, protection and export stimulus as it is one company that will play a big part in the FMCG market in five to 10 years, according to analysts.

ODINAKA ANUDU