CBN’s 41 items ban pushed me into toothpicks making –Ogbebor

Managing Director of Royal Plum Nigeria Limited, Mr Amadi Ogbebor, is one of the Nigerians that ventured into manufacturing following the banning of 41 items from the eligible foreign exchange list by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The Company which is based in Abuja, specialises in the making of toothpicks. Ogbebor speaks about his challenges and other issues. AMAKA IFEAKANDU reports
What encourages you to go into manufacturing of tooth picks?
It was the move by the Central Bank of Nigeria on the foreign exchange policy that made me go into toothpick production. When the apex bank announced the ban on 41 items from the foreign exchange market, and I said “can you imagine we import toothpicks into the country” and that got me thinking that it is really true that there is a void in the market which needs to be filled ,that is what made me go into the toothpick business.

How long did it take you to get to the level?
I was about to go into another business which is making of nails. I had done my research, I was about to pay for the machine when I heard the announcement. Then I did my research and found out that the prices are about the same thing. So I decided that instead of going into nails, I would do toothpick and I bought the machines last year July, but ran into some problems because that was when they placed restriction on paying dollars into accounts. I couldn’t send money to pay for the machines and when my brother-in-law was coming to Nigeria to celebrate his mum’s birthday, I told him to pay the dollars he was bringing into my account in the US and I gave him the naira equivalent. The machines arrived Nigeria in December and we started manufacturing in January. I found out that the machines had some fabrication issues and so I had to start teaching myself how to repair it. Also it wasn’t calibrated properly either, so I had to calibrate it and it took up to nine to 10 months to get it right. We delayed because we didn’t want to go into the market until we could put a good product out there. By January when we went to the market we started having problems with raw-materials because the bamboos we are using has to be fresh and without fresh bamboos the teeth of the machines will wear out and break.
What has been the perception of the Nigerian market of locally made toothpicks and how have you been able to meet up standards?
The perception of a locally made toothpick has been encouraging, people are willing to take it. The only thing was that they are asking for a certain packaging which we are making progress on. I wasted a lot of money initially because I was not able to meet standard. Once in a while things go wrong and you have to discard the whole thing but then it is part of business. It also depends on the quality of the bamboo, but once you know your timing and process then the rest is history. If you are entering a new business that is new it takes a while to learn ,if you are not going to be patient to learn the process and learn how it is going to be done properly then there is no need to start the business and continue in the business.

What challenges did you have starting this business?
The machines are mainly imported so the challenges from that is, learning the process, secondly the machines having its own issues. Assessing funds has been the biggest challenge. I have not had any help from Nigeria fund wise. I am self-funding, the only fund I got was from the United States which I had to go borrow based on my having lived in the US. Fund wise, banks in Nigeria frustrate you. They ask for the impossible and then the interest rate too is high. Any manufacturer who tells you that they will be able to pay you an interest of 25 per cent is lying, because there is no way you can pay back at 25 per cent, except if you plan to pass the cost down to your customers. But then that makes your product expensive.

The company has operated for one and a half years, has the company started making profit?
We have not started making profits yet because of the issues that we have been going through. As we sort one issue, another one crops up. So we have been going through the learning curve and we are now moving to the next stage.

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