P&G to Build New Factory in Nigeria

Procter and Gamble, the international household products manufacturer will, in addition to its factory in Ibadan, build a new production site in Nigeria as it increases investment in social programs that will improve lives in Nigerian communities.
This was revealed recently by Manoj Kumar , the new managing director, P&G West Africa who has taken over the leadership of the company from Stanislav Vecera.
Kumar made the revelation at a cocktail held in Lagos at the Civic Centre to honour Vecera, who has left Nigeria to head the operations of the global company in East and South Africa. The new P&G helmsman said that Africa is a major focus on a global level, for P&G while Nigeria is among the fastest growing markets within Africa.
“Our new investment will create thousands of new jobs directly with P&G and indirectly through our factory services, distributors, marketing agencies, construction and logistics. Our plans are very focused on the long term and we are continuing to invest in the future of Nigeria,” he said.
Kumar said that people remained the greatest asset of the company. So it has continued to invest in training and development of its employees all over the world, including Nigeria.
Reviewing his achievement at P&G in the last four years Stanislav Vecera said: “Our business has expanded into and around West Africa with Nigeria as the central business hub for all West Africa serving 16 countries such as Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mauritania and Liberia…. to name a few ….and in 2008, we opened an office in Senegal to coordinate our business in Franco-phone West Africa. This accelerated growth over the past 4 years has placed West Africa among P&G’s fastest growing businesses in the world and we have an ambitious expansion plan that would lead the company to open a second manufacturing site in Nigeria thus creating thousands of new jobs directly with P&G and indirectly in distribution, logistics and marketing”
The company opened a state-of-the-art detergent factory in Ibadan that was commissioned by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo to produce Ariel Detergent. It expanded and upgraded the Pampers production lines in 2008. The company increased its products available from Nigeria to include Bonux Detergent, Gillette, Duracell and Oral B.
In June 2006, P&G launched its corporate social responsibility platform, Live Learn and Thrive in Nigeria. This focuses on assisting the development of children in need between the ages of 0 – 13.
The program, according to Vecera now touches over 2 million Nigerian children every year through various programs in hospitals, schools and communities. The company works with non-profit partners to give children a healthy start in life, providing access to education and access to programs that help build their self esteem, social skills and empower them.