Vitafoam Boss Explains Growth Plans, Assures Investors

 By Eromosele Abiodun

Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi has expressed optimism that the company’s performance indicators would not be affected adversely by the on-going business vagaries.

Adeniyi, who unfolded some strategies to sustain shareholder value, explained that Vitafoam remained committed to value creation and delivery as one of the fundamental principles that define the company’s operations.

Commenting on the current efforts to sustain Vitafoam’s competitive edge, he noted that the company places premium on the realignment of internal processes to cut waste, development of human capital and investment in research and development in consonance with the needs of the customers.

Adeniyi stated that the company’s shareholder value would not be compromised, hence the need to remain innovative and competitive.

“We remain committed to our shareholders as ever before to make returns to them. They will not be disappointed because for us as management, our responsibility is to return good dividends to our shareholders. That is our target and they will surely get good return for their investment, “Adeniyi said.

He  also assured the company’s customers of quality products in line with global standard stressing that Vitafoam’ stands out in terms of quality of products and service delivery.

He stated that despite the challenging operating environment, the company would always remain a good corporate citizen.

Adeniyi expressed gratitude for the customers’ loyalty saying,  “We shall always count on their continuous support for us. These are tough times. We will surely get out of it. We still rely on their support for our products as ever before. Our products’ quality would not reduce for any reason. Rather, it would continue to be relevant.”

However, the Vitafoam boss expressed concerns  over the  plight of manufacturers. According to him,  the most critical issue is the problem of sourcing raw materials of whose almost 90 per cent is imported.

He  decried government’s failure to create a special window for forex exclusively for genuine manufacturers, saying this  has exposed these sectors of the economy to the vagaries of the naira exchange rate in the parallel market.

According to him, while traders could easily pass the increasing cost of funds to the consumers, manufacturers in Nigeria could not do that.

The Vitafoam boss  therefore, called on the federal government to consider the plight of genuine manufacturers whose details are obtainable  from  the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) by assisting them to access forex at official window in order to boost production and expansion, the preconditions for job creation .

He also decried the enormous amount being spent on power generation in the real sector, an indictment of the current epileptic supply.

As part of Vitafoam’s strategic growth plan, recently, Vono Products Nigeria merged with it for enhanced synergy.