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 Daily Independent Online.
* Friday,July 16, 2004.
‘Banks are not helpful’
After his return from England
in 1970, where he had gone for studies, precisely Applied Bio-Chemistry,
at Barth University, Adewale Kotey, Managing Director and Chief Executive
of Lagos-based Produce Extract Limited, a firm producing various brands
of alcholic and non- alcholic drinks, shares his journey so far as an
entrepreneur with Business Reporter, Dele Alao.
Born
into the Brazilian quarter area of Lagos Island in 1941, Adewale Kotey,
who did not mince words in describing himself as a typical Lagosian, had
early in life, clearly set before himself a goal to pursue. And that goal
is to be an employer of labour. However, like the biblical Isrealites,
who passed through the wilderness to gather what theologians described as
“the school of experience”, Kotey, too passed through his own “
wilderness” to gather enough experience before setting up Produce Extract
Limited, which today manufactures such brands as Pel Apul Tizer, Pel
Capri Tizer, Rosel and Pel Lite cream soda, which are non-alcholic, and
KartaBlanca and Ruby, which are alcholic. The six brands, Kotey informed,
are doing well in the South-West geo-political zone and have made an
in-road into Ilorin, Port Harcourt and to some extent Aba, Cross River,
Abuja and a little bit into the north.
He went down memory lane:“I am
Adewale Kotey, born into the Brazilian quarter area of Lagos Island on
June 21, 1941.The first of the six children, I can say I am from a middle
class family by the standard of that time. My father, Charles Kotey, was
an architecture, who worked with the then Public Works Department (PWD).
My mother, Elizabeth Kotey, was a school teacher. I attended St. Gregory
College, Obalende, Lagos, before I proceeded to the United Kingdom to
study Applied Bio-Chemistry at the University of Barth. And after
graduation, I came back to Nigeria and in 1971, I joined the Nigerian
Breweries as a trainee brewer.
Continuing, he
said: “At the Nigerian Brewery, I worked my way through various
departments, becoming a production manager. I left Nigerian Breweries in
1981 to join International Beer and Beverages Limited (IBBL), Kaduna,
makers of Kronenbourg beer. I was at IBBL as development manager till
1984, when I joined North Breweries, Kano as research development
manager. But, I later became the assistant general manager, corporate
affairs, and left the place as brewery manager”.
“In 1988, I left there to join
Super Breweries, Delta State as the general manager till 1991 when I left
to set up this outfit, Produce Extract Limited, together with my brother,
Raymond Kotey.”
However, the ban on the
importation of barley malt in the late 1980s, an essential raw material
in beer making, actually hastened his journey into the entrepreneurship
world. “You will recall that in the 80s, there was this awareness of
looking inward in sourcing for local raw materials for beer making in the
country. It was at that time the Federal Government banned the
importation of barley malt, a very important raw material in brewery. So,
everybody was looking for the other way out to escape from the effect of
the ban. And I felt that since we have enough fruits to make wine from, I
could as well seize the opportunity and make something out of it. Though,
we started this production business in 1986, we did not start commercial
production until 1991, when we got enough confidence to start and we
started with the brand called Katar Blanca.”
Dewale and Raymond put both
their human and financial resources together to set up the firm. While
the former put almost his 20 years experience in the brewery industry
into display, the latter provided the financial wherewithal of N300, 000.
The firm, which started operation from a three-room apartment in Iju, on
the outskirts of Lagos, with three workers, has moved to a more spacious
accommodation at the Matori Industrial Estate, Lagos, with 50 workers,
including not less than eight professionally qualified ones.
On the availability of raw
materials, the managing director stated that they are locally sourced.
“All these raw materials are
from the country. But, we have to import some certain machinery. And we
imported some of these machines from Italy, Britain and Czech Republic.
Though there are some we fabricated locally ”, he informed
Kotey recounted the
constraints he went through at the initial stage of the business. He said
it was very difficult obtaining financial assistance at the time, as many
people who could lend a helping hand thought the project was a
capital-intensive one.
“One major initial constraint
we had at that time was that everyone we turned to for financial
assistance thought it was a huge capital project and nobody was prepared
to give us money”, he stated.
Kotey lamented the deplorable
state of basic infrastructure in the country, which he said has not
augured well for the small and medium scale entrepreneurs. According to
him, the government still needs to do more on the supply of electricity,
provision of regular water supply and establishment of more industrial
estates with availability of the basic infrastructure.
Also, the managing director
feels that banks are not doing enough to encourage the growth of
small-scale enterprises, blaming it on the high interest rate the banks
charge,
Said he: “The banks are still
not very helpful. They still do not see the small-scale business as an
essential part of their system. If I put it in the other way, the
atmosphere is not right for small-scale businesses. The banks are not
just ready to invest in you.
“It has been very, very rough.
The infrastructure problems are just there, the inconsistence in
government policies are there and the financial problem of the high
interest rate”, he added.
Advising the government on the
need to stimulate the growth of small-scale entrepreneurship, he said “I
will advice that fund be made available to small-scale entrepreneurs
without unnecessary hurdles. As a major employer of labour in any
country, the government is not loosing anything by taking whatever
measures needed to be taken to ensure this sector survives and grows.
“Let the government forget
about the taxes from the small-scale business owners. What should be at
the back of the mind of the government is how the small-scale businesses
could help to reduce crime waves in the country.
“ So, the government must do
whatever can be done to ensure that we have access to funds without much
stress, and whatever must be done to improve on the electricity supply
must also be pursued. Industrial areas must have three-phase electricity
supply to be able to operate the machines”, he advised.
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