It was a great day last week for Sumal Group and its teeming distributors across the country as they both met at the Customers’ Forum held at Kakanfo Conference Centre, Ring Road, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Among other issues, the group and its distributors brainstormed on quality enhancement, brand promotion and strengthening of the distribution chain for growth and prosperity.
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The Forum, apart from providing an avenue for the distributors to meet with the management of the group and visiting the expansive factory at the bustling heart of the Oluyole Industrial Estate, Ibadan, also gave an opportunity for questions and answers on the way forward.
Uppermost on the minds of the distributors is how the company could maintain its lead position in the food manufacturing sector in the country barring the odds of the harsh economy.
They also want the company to create a wider spectrum of profit gap that can justify their efforts in the promotion and sales of the range of its products in the market.
Specifically, Mr Joel Ganpanu of Mr and Mrs Joel Global Ventures, Idiroko; Alhaja Gbemisola Goloba of Temmysuite Goloba Ventures; and Adesanya Omolaja of Temisan Nigeria Enterprise, Atan Sango Ota; urged the company to address the various points raised by the distributors as the closest to the retailers and consumers.
While assuring them that the various issues would be carefully addressed, the Sumal group management expressed the need for the Federal Government to create an enabling environment for business growth.
According to the group, rise in the rate of dollar against the naira, scarcity of Foreign Exchange and global shortage of raw materials are reasons for the rise in prices of commodities in the country.
Mr Valiyaparambil Sudarsan, General Manager, Sumal Group, who attributed the continued survival of industries in Nigeria to resilience, called for the birth favorable policies to aid the economy.
“Our main problem and our pre-Coronavirus pandemic situation are in the fact that globally, there has been shortage of raw materials, hence, we are not getting enough (raw materials). We are not getting raw materials locally to produce. This, you know, is essential for production.
“Cost of production is higher; shipping or importation of materials required for production is not easy to shoulder. The shipping lines increased the cost of their services. It is very demanding to continue production in this crisis time.
“You can see dollar scarcity in Nigeria also. The dollar is going up every time against the naira and this has a lot of implications on manufacturing. This leads to increase in prices of commodities.
“Government is trying its best, but we need further push so that manufacturers can be able to cope with the pressure.”
