By Chinyere Anyanwu, [email protected]
Difficulties associated with securing certifications for food businesses, inconsistent government policies; forex fluctuation among others, have been listed as key challenges frustrating the success and sustainability of food-based SMEs in the country.
The CEO, Comsia Nig. Ltd, Mrs. Adesola Adesokan, made the submission at the maiden edition of the Business of Food Summit held in Lagos, recently.
Mrs. Adesokan who was chairperson of the summit themed, “Building a Sustainable Food Business: Opportunities and Key Drivers”, stated that the essence of the summit was to enable experts in various sections of food business to gather and rub minds and proffer reasonable solutions to the myriads of challenges confronting food entrepreneurs and potential investors.
Speaking at the event, Adesokan, a retired staff of Nestle Nigeria, described it as the “gathering of high profile speakers and dignitaries who are experts in their various fields, to share experiences on better ways to build a sustainable food business while highlighting the various challenges along the route and how to surmount them to achieve greater success.”
She highlighted some of the challenges confronting operators of SMEs in food business in Nigeria to include, “lack of financial literacy/irresponsibility, lack of proper strategic planning, disregard for essential services, lack of insurance/legal/professional services; lack of clear succession plan; fluctuation of forex; perceived intimidation by regulatory authorities; insecurity/political instability; bad and inconsistent government policies (as witnessed with the recent ill-timed and poorly thought out cashless policy); multiple taxation and access to capital/lack of market information and data; difficulty finding competent staff and trust issue; lack of market information and data, among others.”
She expressed the hope that the summit would “provide the solutions for economic growth and advancement of our people; opportunity to persuade the Federal Government to provide enabling environment that will make business to thrive and to draw the necessary conclusions as to future action; as well as provide an occasion to reawaken the entrepreneurial spirit in us, a sense of reassurance and strong hope that with food, poverty will be a thing of the past in this country.”
Speaking on “Regulation as a Key Driver for Sustainability in Food Business” at the summit, the Director, NAFDAC Lagos State Office (LSO), Dr. Mrs. Monica Eimunjeze, said the agency, in a bid to ease the process of securing certification, has categorised operators in various businesses and considerably reduced the requirements.
Dr. Eimunjeze said: “Basically, what we look at is anything that is not absolutely necessarily, and critical and would not affect the quality of the product. Depending on the category you fall into, we have reduced the requirements – documentation requirements and facility requirements – as against previously when the requirement was the same for everybody regardless of whether you are operating a nano, micro, small or medium facility. The requirements are now different. With that, it has made it easier.”
On the importance of regulation, she said, “we regulate to ensure quality, to ensure checks and balances and also to ensure compliance. Our duty as regulators transcends business. If you want your business to progress and succeed, you have to comply with regulations. We want to create an environment where SMEs will grow and create jobs and make wealth.”
The summit convener, Mr. Rasaq Oke, Founder/CEO, FOODDOTCOM Academy Services, while speaking on the sidelines of the event, stated that the summit was aimed at bridging the knowledge gap existing in the country’s food industry.
Oke, who noted that knowledge sharing is very critical to building a viable food business, said, “the only thing missing is knowledge sharing. Those who have the food safety knowledge are too distant from those who need it, so I decided to gather people who have been in this industry for some time, who can share their experiences and the challenges they are facing as well as the turning point in their businesses that made them to achieve success.”
He said this will encourage existing and upcoming players in the food business industry to operate seamlessly and maximise profit.
In his goodwill message, the Assistant Director, Scientific Investigation, Research and Development, Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA), Mr. Lucas Raheem, advised those planning to establish food businesses not to be economical with the hygiene and safety of their products, saying the agency was obligated to ensure that consumers are not endangered by the food products they purchase from food business operators.
Raheem advised operators to, “ensure the products have adequate product information, including NAFDAC no, product expiry and production dates. We must try to check the menace of exposing products packaged in plastics to sunlight, which makes the food product harmful. Solution to this can be achieved when producers produce dummies of these products which vac be displayed in the open while the real products are stored in cool places.”