How We’ve Controlled Beer Market for Long—Nigerian Breweries

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

When it comes to the beer market in the country, Nigerian Breweries Plc is arguably the leader and it has maintained this position for a very long time.

The company is not looking like it will relinquish power to any of its competitors despite several attempts made to make this happen.

Recently, Nigerian Breweries had a media parley in Lagos to commemorate its 75th anniversary and the Corporate Affairs Director of the brewery giant, Mrs Sade Morgan, revealed the secrets behind the company’s success in the beer sub-sector of the Nigerian economy.

According to her, one of the key ingredients has been to maintain its pride in the mind of consumers across generations through timeless innovation, brand relevance and consistent strategy.

“One word we can use to describe Nigerian Breweries, I would say is timeless; and timeless in the sense that it talks to how we have been able to keep up for ages right from where Nigeria was coming from and where Nigeria is going to.

“We have continued to stay relevant, relatable and connected to our consumers, shareholders and that is really the timeless essence of everything that we do,” she said.

Mrs Morgan further said the firm has been able to win the hearts of consumers despite the odds because of its huge investment in human capital and other investments.

She said Nigerian Breweries has invested N78 billion in the cultivation of local raw materials in addition to sorghum and cassava value chains through commercial purchase and smallholder farming.

Also, the organisation is investing N55 billion in capital projects, while $114million has been pumped into capital investments and expansion projects in Ama Brewery to build a resilient economy through job and wealth creation.

“We have done about 56 per cent in local material sourcing but our packaging material is at 100 per cent; the challenge with the raw material is the availability of ingredients that go into making most of our products.

“So, that is an area where we will continue to pioneer as we did with sorghum with backward integration and investing to realize in Nigeria the products needed essentially for our products.

“But for now we want to be able to satisfy our consumers and give them the same quality of beer that they can get anywhere in the world,” Mrs Morgan said.

On his part, the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr Hans Essaadi, assured that the company will continue to invest significantly in capacity extension to meet its objectives and rising demands in the market.

“We have grown with Nigeria and it is clear that moving forward, we will continue to invest significantly in capacity extension to meet our objectives as well as demands in the market.

“We should expect much of these extensions in the east and northern parts of the country and our majority shareholder, Heineken, is committed to this and this is good as it will bring direct and indirect job opportunities for Nigerians,” he said.