We will make substantial investment in the Nigerian market – Kapito

Saint-Gobain recently organised a workshop for stakeholders in the Nigerian building industry. In this interview, Westtar Kapito, regional director and Nicolas Fuchs, Technical Marketing Manager Saint-Gobain tells Chinwe Agbeze about the company’s plans in Nigeria.

Tell us about Saint-Gobain.

The company is 352 years old. It’s one of the oldest companies in the world. It’s a public listed company on the French stock exchange. It started with the supply of mirror and glass to the King Louis XIV for his palace in Versaillies.

All over the world, glass is still a big part of our business. What’s important in the history of the company is that we have grown through different phases. When you deal with companies with long history, one thing is that the company has the experience. We have developed new businesses.

35% of the company’s activities and employees are in the distribution of construction materials, which wasn’t the case 20 years ago. We are not yet into involved in distribution in Africa. For the moment, our focus in Africa is to provide innovative solutions. We are not only talking about finished walls and ceilings; we’re talking about providing wellbeing.

We want to emphasize that we are not providing products only but solutions in all aspects of construction. We are not pretending that we are going to make everybody’s life better, but we think that through those innovations, we can provide more comfort in terms of fire protection, aesthetics, acoustics and air quality. These things improve lives. This is why we are partnering with Tormek Global Services Limited because we can’t understand the market needs if we don’t have inputs from local partners with knowledge of the market.

Can you take us through the product range?

Saint-Gobain started with glass and it is still part of our activities. In the construction sector, we have the walls, ceiling and installation business which is around plasterboard, finishing solutions, acoustics, flooring solutions, plastering mortars. We also provide pipes for water, water treatment and sewage. We provide Abrasive tools; cutting and grinding wheels as well as involving in making roofing.

What is unique about Saint-Gobain products?

The unique thing is their combination in a solution. If you knock on Saint-Gobain’s door, you would be able to build a good piece of your house. It would be a one stop shop. When we don’t have the solutions, we partner with those who have them.

Saint-Gobain is different because of the experience gathered over the years. We are present in 67 countries with people in the field. We are sharing information among over 100 nationalities, meaning we have experience in various countries of the world. What works in Brazil doesn’t necessarily work in Europe but it might be similar to what the needs will be in one of the countries in Africa or Asia.

We are deep in innovation. One product out of four sold by Saint-Gobain did not exist in Saint-Gobain 5 years ago. We are constantly bringing innovation into the market and talking customer intimacy because we cannot innovate if we don’t understand what the market needs. We believe that the answers are in the country, not about bringing solutions from one country to another.

Why the decision to focus on the Nigerian market now the country is just exiting recession?

We have always believed in the Nigerian market despite the recession. We believe in the economy, the people and resurgence of the Nigerian market. That is why we have decided to make substantial investment in the Nigerian market.

We have been working with partners because we believe in what we can bring into this market. More importantly, I think the timing couldn’t have been any better. For us, we have a positive appetite for Africa, and Nigeria seems to be one of those countries where we want to be present. Should we have done this five, ten years ago? Perhaps but this is the right time.

During the workshop, it was mentioned that the company had, in the past, been involved in putting some structures in place in Nigeria. Can you tell us about the flagship projects?

Incidentally, we are conducting this interview in one of our flagship project- the Renaissance Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos. We started engaging with the owner five years ago when they approached us for unique solution in terms of providing ceiling and wall partitions using our methods and products. And we were able to provide solutions in terms of products and value addition.

As you can see, it is a beautiful hotel. The walls and ceilings are done with Saint-Gobain plasterboard. We have also done acoustic installation for the walls and ceilings; you can hear from the sound that it’s not a noisy place. And I believe from what we hear from customers’ testimony that they are happy with the solutions that we provide for the building.

Not just this, we were able to provide the green glass for the Civic Centre Tower. We provided the acoustic solution for The Fountain of Life Church in Ilupeju, Lagos as well. We are currently providing the plasterboard for the renovation of the Oriental Hotel, also in Lagos. We just finished the event centre of First Baptist Church in Yaba. We have done more than 50 residential buildings on the Island. We have also done some projects outside Lagos. The new Grand Spare Departmental Shop in Abuja is being done with Gyproc products.