‘We will help make better environment for people’

Eaton, a United States-based global power management company, with presence in 175 countries across the world, has made a berth in Nigeria. Its Head of Marketing, Sumaya Abdool was recently in Nigeria and she spoke passionately about Eaton and how it is transforming lives. Currently with almost a million employees around the world, Eaton has had brands within Africa since 1927.

Abdool’s visit to Nigeria was no coincidence, as it was part of her tour to help nurture Eaton’s office as well as the brand that came into the country three years ago. “When you are going into your office park, into the building, the lighting in the building is an Eaton product,” she said.

She added that in September last year, Africa’s five-year strategy was presented to Eaton’s CEO, Craig Arnold and was approved, noting, “One of our key countries in the strategy is Nigeria. When you look at what’s happening in Nigeria, with the growing population comes the growing need for infrastructure, and with the growing need of infrastructure comes the need for quality products and solution. These products and solutions are things we are focusing on specifically. We offer quality power, uninterrupted power supply (UPS) and backup systems in commercial buildings as well as fire and lighting products.”

Aside providing these solutions, Abdool said her company would also train people, adding, “We believe in training, equipping people with global expertise, giving them the knowledge of the right solutions, which they will in turn, take to the market.”

According to her, in 2016 Eaton focused heavily on training and growing its team in Nigeria. “We had a graduate programme, where we took them to South Africa to do a six-month training. We have laid the foundation for our partners.”

On why the Nigerian market is important for her organisation, Abdool said, “When I think about what they do in terms of their vision and their mission within the organisation for a broader scale of Africa, it’s just so fascinating, a vision to improve the quality of life and the environment by providing management products and solutions. We have the ability to provide multiple solutions across various segments of mining, oil and gas, utilities, IT channel, as well as commercial buildings.

“We want to make sure we develop the country in areas it needs to grow and equip people with the right skills to grow. I think that really talks about our vision of improving the quality of life, ensuring that the employment rate continues to grow. For me, I would not say why Nigeria, but why not Nigeria?”

She shed more on Africa’s five-year strategy, saying, “My team just rolled on a new product, which focuses heavily on fire lighting safety products, this is important for our Nigerian team, to build and improve products within Nigeria. It is a huge drive that has been pushed into the market through our various distributors.

On corporate social responsibility drive Abdool said; “We are excited about the women skills development programme across Africa. What we are doing with this programme is identifying some of the gaps in these regions and helping to deploy them.”

The marketer is optimistic about her brand’s reception in Nigeria, noting, “We have really good quality products that focus on safety and life improvement.”

On pricing rates, she stated, “We are very competitive in the market. We target architects, consultants in the commercial building market, while in the homeowners, from the safety point of view, we are trying to do an awareness trial in safety measures.”