Manufacturing is not something a lot of Nigerians are into due to
the stress it involves but it does pay in the long run and you can
succeed at it even if it is just one product you can produce and offer
to the market.
People like Dangote have been in the business of
producing cement and this has helped make him a success story in
Nigeria.
Today, he is not just the richest man in Nigeria but currently
the richest man in Africa.
Some
people may say that its probably because of his relationship with
politicians that made him richer but the bottom-line is that he already
had something to offer, a useful product.
What does Aliko Dangote
do to make him Africa's richest man? Well, he is a manufacturer whose
business involves the production and packaging of cement which is useful
for the construction industry.
He is one of the good examples
that shows that manufacturing does pay in Nigeria despite the odds. If
you could produce anything that the market needs, rather than import it,
people would be willing to buy it from you at a reasonable price. There
are other many examples of manufacturers in Nigeria producing a lot of
products like tomato sauce, fruit juice, noodles, bottles water,
biscuit, detergents, machine parts and others.
As at the first
time he entered Forbes list, Dangote was estimated to be worth a little
over $2bn but as at 2010, his fortune has only multiplied and Forbes
currently updates his value to about $16bn. This makes him the richest
pure black man in the world as at 2013.
There are lot of products
that can be manufactured in Nigeria but an investor would have to focus
on products that don't have too much competitive prices in the market.
There is always a Nigerian advantage in producing items locally and one
just needs to find one that suits his business well.
One of the
factors competing against local manufacturing is the issue of
importation. Most imported products tend to come at a discounted price
to Nigeria than the cost of producing it locally. One would have to
decide on whether to compete against those imports or avoid
manufacturing such products altogether.
There are certain
products that also have an import prohibition on them and it's wise to
understand govt laws in order to take advantage of it. Most locally
produced products do well when the market has not been flooded with
related imported products.
Another factor manufacturers face in
Nigeria is the issue of inefficient power supply. Many manufactures have
to invest in alternative sources of energy such as generators and solar
energy. Generators are fuel consuming and some companies would have to
use it on a 24 hr basis just to remain profitable.
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