Connect with us

Interview

‘The Coleman Wires and Cables Business Story is a Journey From Grass to Grace’

Published

1 year ago

on

On the sidelines of the 12th Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) organized by the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. George Onafowokan, the Managing Director/CEO of Coleman Technical Industries Limited, a leading Nigerian brand manufacturer of wires and cables, shared secrets to his business success amid recent national and global economic challenges. Onafowokan maintains that as a Nigerian, one can start a small business and grow organically into a big global competitor…..

 

What do you mean when you said Coleman Wires and Cable’s story is one of “grass to grace”?

 

Coleman Wires and Cable was registered as a company in 1975, but we began as a small-scale business in 1996. In 2021, we had to restructure our operations to overcome the setbacks we faced from the beginning, and that’s when I became the Managing Director.

Our story is one of grassroots to grace. Through investing time and effort over the years, we were able to systematically grow from a micro-small company into a small, medium, large, and extremely large company in terms of size. Our business vision started small, but we strategically expanded it. Please note, our aim was not to become the largest company, but it began with the goal of being the preferred wires and cable choice for Nigerians in terms of quality.

Subsequently. we found that every Nigerian preferred locally made cables over the foreign imported ones. So, the question of why we can’t build a company capable of servicing the entire nation and the global market arose; with this, our vision expanded. We progressed from a humble factory to a ripple plant that became the largest in West Africa at the time it was built. Starting out from 20,000 square meters, we expanded to 30,000 square meters and further into the Shagamu plant, which began with over 100,000 and has grown to over 350,000 square meters today.

We diversified into other products, such as high-voltage cables, and we became the first in the country and in West Africa. This achievement made Nigeria the fifth country in the world to produce such cables. Today, more than fifty percent of Coleman’s products are not produced by any other company in Nigeria, West Africa, and most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. This accomplishment is a testament to the story developed by a predominantly 99 percent Nigerian team. It illustrates that it is possible to be Nigerian and organically grow into a global competitor.

Could you provide some insight into your personal background for the readers?

Certainly! I am George Onafowokan, the second generation of the Onafowokan family, born into the distinguished lineage of Asiwaju Solomon Kayode Onafowokan. He is currently the second Asiwaju of Remo, succeeding Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and is well-regarded as a business mogul. Personally, I am a family man with a spouse and children.

I pursued my first degree in Accounting and Finance in the UK, followed by a postgraduate degree in Information and Management. With a penchant for improving processes and a dedication to giving back, I often find myself engrossed in thoughts on how to enhance various aspects of life.

Having witnessed the success of companies I’ve mentored in Nigeria, I am committed to building the capacity of individuals and small to medium-scale businesses. My guiding principle, which I consider my calling, is to contribute to the growth and improvement of others over time.

Reflecting on my upbringing, my father’s journey serves as a true “grass to grace” story. From humble beginnings in a one-bedroom apartment, he worked his way up to become well-educated and stand out among his peers. However, my perspective evolved when, at the age of twelve, my aunt imparted valuable advice. She encouraged me to cease complaining and adopt the mindset that my parents served as vessels for me to enter the world. Once in the world, their responsibility concluded. Embracing this philosophy, I no longer felt entitled to my parents’ resources and committed to earning everything I needed. This mentality shaped my life principle—I don’t expect anyone to owe me anything. Consequently, I work diligently, understanding that neither a “yes” nor a “no” signifies offense or entitlement.

 

Was Coleman Wires and Cables your first business?

No, Coleman was not my first business; it is a family business. I started my own business when I was young. At the age of sixteen, I ventured into my first wine business. By the time I completed university, I had my own business in the UK, specializing in financing and exporting to Nigeria using containers. My initial entry into the cable business involved supplying raw materials, and coincidentally, one of my main clients was Coleman.

You spoke about replicating yourself; how can one access mentorship opportunities from you?

 

I am one of those who don’t believe that you can run a business as a one-man show. Therefore, you have to build human capacity in every way, integrate it into your structure, empower the people around you, and let them handle their responsibilities. Personally, I have built a team around what I do. I started in a business where I handled every department myself, but today, I am not involved in those tasks anymore.

Most importantly, I empower them to effectively perform their jobs and give them a sense of belonging, so they feel that their contributions have value.

In many companies in Nigeria, you often find that the Managing Director or CEOs are the only individuals making decisions, while the rest are mere yes-ma or yes-sir. I wouldn’t run a business that way.

Are there mentorship opportunities for people outside your current team?

No, we have not fully structured it for everyone; we currently have a limited number, mostly for individuals already in the industry. However, from my work with the LCCI mentoring group and my team, I have found that what most people generally need is a simple understanding and mentoring to discover what aspects of their life or history they could improve upon or learn from.

What has Coleman been doing with the NCDMB?

For us, we are a success story of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) because we have been working with the board since 2017. Prior to that, in 2008, I met with Senator Lee Maeba, who led the private bill for the local content law before it became an act in 2010. I could see the passion in the man when he talked about the whole idea, and from that passion, we took action. “Taking action” means we started putting our money where our mouth is, began examining areas in the law that affect business and expanding capacity, and we have succeeded in doing so. Over the years, it has been challenging to break into these oil and gas companies, but we have managed to do so. We primarily supply cables to their vendors, without handling any installation. We supply for NLNG projects, Shell, and Mobile. We have been able to provide cables that have never been produced by any other company in Nigeria.

 

In the face of business and economic setbacks, Coleman expanded. What did you do differently?

First, I think we took a strategic position to ensure our ability to continue operations. Second, we minimized our losses and restructured our capacity. One month before the Covid-19 shutdown, we had submitted a request for restructuring with our banks. We had slowed down, scrutinized all our positions, and had already started reducing the size of our business. By the time we entered the Covid-19 pandemic, we operated with the same number of staff for about a year. After Covid-19 started easing, we increased the number of staff. Therefore, we were somewhat prepared for Covid-19, and over the years in our business, we had already trained specific capacity. During Covid-19, we were able to build two factories without anyone coming from abroad. Covid-19 has, in a way, compelled everyone to enhance their in-country capacity.

In your panel discussion, you mentioned that the NCDMB should replicate the success in the petroleum industry in manufacturing. So, in concrete terms, what are you looking for to happen?

 

Replicating success in manufacturing means being intentional with manufacturers, ensuring that they perform well because there are not a lot of manufacturers. We need to be more deliberate, encourage more factories, open more businesses here, and manufacture goods instead of just assembling them. That is the focus I am emphasizing. There should be a deliberate action to build local capacity.

 

What is the future for Coleman?

 

The future for Coleman is still very bright. The opportunities have not stopped. We have two or three projects that are still ongoing, which will be finished by the first quarter of next year. The copper and aluminum factories are underway, the fiber-2 project, the expansion and completion of the Shagamu project, and our power project to increase our capacity from 16 to 24 megawatts. We are also looking to supply around West and Central Africa going forward in the next year, and later on, in East Africa. Our export plan is quite extensive, and we hope to see significant figures coming out of it, apart from Nigeria.

I believe we need to trust in the opportunities that abound in Nigeria, and in time, we are all going to reap the benefits. Regardless of the situation, Nigeria still finds its way to continue growing; and if given peace and the chance by the government, we would most likely see an upward swing in businesses by 2025.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Interview

EFCC Bursts Syndicate of 792 Cryptocurrency Investment, Romance Fraud Suspects in Lagos … Arrests 193 Chinese, Arabs, Filipinos, Others

Published

3 days ago

on

December 18, 2024

By

The Executive Chairman  of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has  disclosed that the Commission, in a landmark raid,  arrested 792 suspects  for their alleged involvement in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scam.

The  suspects were apprehended on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, in a surprise operation at their hideout, an imposing seven-storey edifice known as Big Leaf Building, on No.7, Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos , following verifiable intelligence received by the Commission.

Speaking during a media briefing on Monday, December 16, 2024,   at the Lagos  Zonal Directorate of the Commission, Olukoyede stated that  148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, one Pakistani, one Indonesian were arrested during the operation.

The EFCC’s boss,  who spoke though the Director, Public Affairs, EFCC, Commander of the EFCC,  CEWilson Uwujaren, further stated that the  foreign nationals used the facility, which could be mistaken for a corporate headquarters of a financial establishment, to train their Nigerian accomplices on how to initiate romance and investment scams and also used the identities of their Nigerian accomplices to perpetrate their criminal activities.

According to him, “All the floors are equipped with high-end desktop computers. On the 5th floor alone, investigators recovered 500 SIM cards of local telcos that were bought for criminal purposes.

“ Their Nigerian accomplices were recruited by the foreign kingpins to prospect for victims online through phishing, targeting mostly Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, and several others from European countries.

“They usually arm them with desktop computers and mobile devices and create fake profiles for them.

“The Nigerian accomplices are equally provided with logs that allow them access to foreign communication lines and victims, which they chat with on WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram.”

While giving  further details about the modus operandi of the syndicate, the EFCC Chair said the Nigerian accomplices, who are assigned WhatsApp accounts linked to foreign telephone numbers, especially from Germany and Italy, engage victims in romantic conversations as well as phantom business and investment discussions to trick them to shop on the purported online investment shopping platform called www.yooto.com.

He added: “For those who show interest, activation fees for an account on the platform starts from $35USD.

“Investigation revealed that the criterion for recruiting these young Nigerians is proficiency in the use of computers, especially typing skill. Those who passed the test are given desktop computers and mobile devices and then taken through a two-week induction on how to personate foreign females in romance scam chats and convince victims to invest in their employers’ cryptocurrency investment scam.

“Once the Nigerians are able to win the confidence of would-be victims, the foreigners would take over the actual task of defrauding the victims and proceed to block their Nigerian accomplices from the network. This would then leave them in the dark about the transaction.”

He, however, said the Nigerians involved in the alleged fraudulent activities “do not know the owners of the ‘company’ they work for because they are not offered letters of appointments or receive payment from a corporate account.”

According to him, the  suspected Nigerian accomplices are usually paid either in cash or through an individual’s account.

Olukoyede said the Commission was working with its foregoing partners to establish the extent of the scam and the accomplices as well as the likelihood of any collaboration with organized international fraud cells.

The EFCC Chair also used the occasion to debunk the notion that Nigerians are behind the tonnes of frauds emanating from the country.

“Foreigners are taking advantage of our nation’s unfortunate reputation as a haven of frauds to establish a foothold here to disguise their atrocious criminal enterprises. But, as this operation has shown, there will be no hiding places for criminals in Nigeria,”he said.

Also speaking during the occasion , the acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Commission, Michael Wetkas, sought greater collaboration with the media in the fight against  corruption and economic and financial crimes.

Items recovered from the suspects include desktop computers, mobile phones, laptop computers and cars at the point of arrest.

The suspects will be charged to court after investigations are concluded.

Continue Reading

Interview

Kogi Governor Ododo Allegedly Spends N400million To Build ‘Intruders Gate’, Another N439million To Produce Staff Of Office For Chiefs

Published

2 weeks ago

on

December 4, 2024

By

About N400million was spent by the Governor Usman Ododo’s administration in Kogi State for the construction of what was tagged “Intruders gate”, a copy of the 2024 state budget performance report obtained by SaharaReporters has revealed.

An intruders gate, also known as a security gate or anti-climb gate, is a type of gate designed to prevent unauthorised access to a property, building, or restricted area.

The primary purpose of such gate is to provide an additional layer of security and protection against potential intruders.

The budget document seen by SaharaReporters showed that the Governor Ododo-led government had in the last 9 months spent N398,817,976.33 on “intruders gate instead of the N100,00,000 appropriated and approved in the 2024 budget by the Kogi State House of Assembly.

This suggested that N298,817,976.33 was allegedly illegally spent above the budget ceiling on such gate.

However, where the gate was mounted by the government wasn’t disclosed in the document.

A further check on the report revealed that N439,500,000.00 has so far been spent in 2024 for the “production of customised staff of office for graded chiefs” in the state.

These spendings are coming at a time when residents of the state like other Nigerians are going through a spike in cost of living, hardship and hunger.

Earlier, SaharaReporters reported how the Ododo-led government spent N2.9billion for the Government House minor capital works and remodelling government house between January and September 2024.

The review showed that while the state budgeted N100 million for government house minor capital works, it has ended up spending N784 million within nine months.

Also while the government budgeted N962million for remodeling government house structure, it has spent N2.2 billion within nine months.

The review further showed that based on the details published by the state government, it has continued to overshoot budgetary allocations.

For instance, N50million was budgeted for renovation of Speakers’, honourable members residential quarters, within nine months however N58.7 million was spent.

Renovation of honourable speaker and deputy speakers lodge stood at a budgeted amount of N50 million , however N52 million was spent within nine months.

Maintenance of the Secretary to the State Government’s official residence and landscaping stood at a budget of N10million, however within nine months N13.8million was spent.

Construction of Mosque and Chapel in the government house was budgeted at N25 million, however the state spent N86.4 million within nine months.

Continue Reading

Interview

Audit report reveals CBN’s non-disclosure of $40.23bn in reserves, policy violations under Emefiele’s tenure

Published

3 weeks ago

on

December 3, 2024

By

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) failed to disclose details of the nation’s external reserves, valued at $40.23 billion, in its 2021 financial year report, as stated in the latest findings from the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

The 2021 audit report, released in December 2024, further exposed violations of internal policies on dollar time deposits by the CBN under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele.

Emefiele, whose tenure as CBN governor ended in June 2023, is currently facing charges by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The EFCC accuses him of obtaining $6.2 million under false pretenses, using a forged letter purportedly from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation dated January 26, 2023.

The letter allegedly requested a contingent logistics advance from the CBN, which Emefiele falsely claimed was authorized by the president.

The audit also scrutinized the CBN’s adherence to its revised Investment Policy, raising additional concerns about financial management during the period under review.

“For the year 2021 financial year, the Bank failed to publish the position amounting to US$40,230,803,228.80 of the country’s external reserves to the public,” the report stated.

The report further noted that there was no waiver or new policy introduced during the period that could explain the non-disclosure of the external reserves.

It attributed the failure to weaknesses in the internal control systems at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The report also pointed out that this lack of transparency violated Article 15(v) of the CBN’s revised Investment Policy, which mandates the Bank to define the content, form, and frequency of reports on external reserves to ensure transparency.

The Auditor General expressed concerns about the significant risks associated with this breach, including a lack of accountability, diminished transparency, and potential harm to Nigeria’s economic credibility.

The report cautioned that foreign investors are not sufficiently informed about the country’s economic status, which could undermine investor confidence.

In response to the audit query, the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stated that “information on the external reserves position is available to members of the public on the Bank’s website under the Reserve Management tab.”

The report also mentioned that the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which convenes every two months, provides updates on the reserves.

However, the Auditor General’s assessment concluded that the bank’s response did not effectively address the fundamental issue at hand.

“The response from the Management failed to address the issue raised,” the report said, maintaining that its findings remain valid.

The Auditor General’s report recommended that the CBN governor be summoned before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees to explain the failure to publish the reserves.

It also called for potential sanctions under the Financial Regulations Act of 2009, citing serious misconduct.

Additionally, the report suggested that “sanctions relating to gross misconduct prescribed in paragraph 3129 of the Financial Regulations 2009, should apply.”

The audit also uncovered a violation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Money Market Policy, in addition to the non-publication of reserves figures. It revealed that a $26.05 million dollar time deposit exceeded the mandated maximum maturity period of three months, rolling over for five months without the required waivers.

This deposit, made on October 21, 2021, matured on March 21, 2022, in direct contravention of internal policies designed to manage liquidity and credit risks.

The Auditor-General attributed this breach to weaknesses in the CBN’s internal control systems.

In its defense, the central bank argued that its policies allow for extensions of up to one year for specific transactions, asserting that the dollar deposit was in compliance with these provisions.

However, the Auditor-General rejected this explanation, pointing to insufficient evidence to support the bank’s claims.

The report recommended that the CBN governor appear before the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly to justify both the failure to publish reserves and the extension of the dollar deposit’s maturity.

Additionally, it called for sanctions against the CBN under the Financial Regulations Act of 2009 for gross misconduct.

“The CBN Governor should be requested to: Furnish the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly with the evidence of approval to extend the maximum maturity period of US$26,051,039.29 deposit of the CBN for five months instead of three months, and Otherwise, sanctions relating to gross misconduct prescribed in paragraph 3129 of the Financial Regulations 2009, should apply,” it said.

The Street Journal!

Continue Reading

Trending