Covid-19 has unlocked more resilient and resourceful workforce – Olukayode
By Felicia Nwosu
Olukayode Ibrahim-Faizal, Shopper and Customer Marketing Manager of Beiersdorf, has pointed out that the global Covid-19 pandemic has helped to produce a more resilient and resourceful Nigerian workforce, adding that it has helped in unraveling and unlocking potential of local opportunities for the country’s manufacturers.
The Beiersdorf marketer stated this during a one-on-one chat with Nigeria’s leading advertising magazine, MARKETING EDGE, while noting some of the challenges posed by the pandemic in the Nigerian manufacturing sector.
According to him, the pandemic posed lots of challenges to the manufacturing sector in terms of distribution and supply-chain, leading to inaccessibility of raw materials due to the Covid-19 laid down protocols. He revealed that the adoption of various measures was introduced by Beiersdorf, to mitigate and combat the pandemic, as well as to protect the workforce.
Mr. Ibrahim-Faizal, while describing it as a blessing in disguise, stated that the emergence of Covid-19 has propelled manufacturers to unravel their creative ingenuity as lots of manufacturers now have to look inwards to utilise local contents.
“It is becoming a lot more creative for lots of manufacturers, as they have to look a inwards to utilise local contents, while ensuring that the quality standards are at par with the global acceptable quality.”
The experienced shopper and marketing manager commended Nigeria manufacturers for remaining resilient, focused and unwavering during the period.
His words: “The impact of Covid-19 on the global supply-chain has shown that it also impacted Nigeria negatively in areas of shortage of raw materials. With Covid-19, every manufacturer has to become very resilient and agile to be able to cope with the numerous challenges posed by the pandemic. It is amazing on some of the initiatives and actions taken to ensure we keep running as an entity to continue to provide our products to our teeming consumers. I commend the resilience, resourcefulness and level of creatively of our local suppliers.”
He added: “If you come across some major supermarkets and markets where some of daily essentials are bought, there are no empty shops or stores, which is a good indicator that the manufacturers have actually risen to the occasion in ensuring that there are no major gaps in providing products for Nigeria consumers.”
He admitted that sourcing for foreign exchange is another herculean task before manufacturers, as some of the raw materials are not in the exclusive list, hence the need for foreign exchange.
The marketing expert revealed inflation as another major setback bedeviling both the consumers’ purchasing power and the manufacturers’ production cost. He maintained that at the core of every product proposition, what is important to the consumers is the benefit he gets from the product. He, therefore, emphasised the need for value equation to be complete, no matter what surviving strategy adopted by the manufacturer, while insisting that brand promise must not be compromised.
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