P&G partners government on indigenous manufacturing capacity through local supply

Procter and Gamble (P&G) Nigeria, makers of Always, and Pampers brands, has reiterated its commitment to supporting Federal Government’s efforts to strengthen the supply of local raw materials and encourage the consumption of ‘made in Nigeria’ products at its recent engagement of select local raw material suppliers in Nigeria.

This was made known at an interactive meeting with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, with representatives from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), on the need to increase local products supply.

The meeting was to assess the capability of local businesses and seek their participation in strengthening raw material localisation objectives in line with government’s Backward Integration Programme (BIP). In June, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, had commissioned P&G Nigeria’s Always Production Line, where the company restated its commitment to invest in Nigeria and support government’s diversification efforts.

The new, local production of P&G’s Feminine Care product not only promotes inclusive growth, but also aimed at boosting job creation, and adding value to the economy. P&G has a long record of building capability of local businesses and enabling local entrepreneurship. The company has trained hundreds of SMEs and has been involved in a series of skills building programmes.

In 2015, it partnered with National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), to host a symposium that brought together leading academics, thought leaders, local entrepreneurs and industry leaders to discuss critical issues of development in technology to promote growth through research and technology transfer in Africa.

Through the engagement sessions, parties explored ways of ensuring raw material inputs are effectively sourced locally, carve out strategies to mitigate the challenges being faced and ultimately help local suppliers meet the requirements needed to better support the manufacturing sector.

At the meeting, the Managing Director, P&G Nigeria, George Nassar, commended the ministry’s gesture to engage local businesses, saying: “We praise the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on its willingness to engage local suppliers and assess the capability of their businesses. That, on its own, is very encouraging and we believe today’s meeting is pivotal to accelerating our local sourcing projects. P&G Nigeria currently procures 100 per cent of the packaging materials for its products locally and is working towards increasing the local sourcing of the raw materials we use. We will continue to partner with the government in our quest to achieve this.”

Nassar also noted that the company was committed to doing business with more locally owned businesses and appreciated the role government was playing towards improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria, adding that P&G would continue to foster strong partnership with the government to boost this effort.

He, however, charged government not to relent in its efforts at enabling local entrepreneurship development and helping them with the capabilities required to produce raw materials locally, adding, “This will go a long way in actualising its economic development agenda.”
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Adding his voice, Director of Government Relations and Public Policy for Procter & Gamble Africa Operations, Temitope Iluyemi, said: “Backward integration is essential to the growth of the Nigerian economy and P&G’s aim is to manufacture as close as possible to its consumers, encourage our global partners to do the same and thereby promote technology transfer. We will work to pre-qualify local suppliers for materials used in the production of consumer packaged products and by extension, build capability of local manufacturers to compete effectively in regional value chains and further strengthen the diversification efforts of the Nigerian government.”

Also, Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Francis Alaneme, stated, “We want to increase the local sourcing of raw materials in the country and it is imperative to create opportunities like this to promote growth and provide a platform for cross-sharing and capability building. Partnering with corporate organisations like P&G to engage these businesses would grant us more access to notable suppliers of raw materials in the manufacturing sector and we commend the company’s effort in taking the lead on this.”