News Making round now indicates that Dr. Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of Innoson Vehicles
Manufacturing Co. Ltd, the first indigenous vehicle manufacturing plant in
Nigeria is in allegedly for a serious trouble in his vehicle manufacturing
business if Governor Willie Obiano did not intervene and start buying vehicles
from him.
The document in
our possession showed that unless Governor Willie Obiano rescinds his decision
to continue to buy TATA buses as all the Federal ministries and Agencies as
well as various state governments have told the Innoson company that they would
not continue to patronize him since his state government did not deem his
vehicles fit to buy but buys TATA , a non indigenous buses. Innoson is proudly
Nigeria.
Governor Willie
Obiano has bought some good number of buses from TATA and some were given to
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
the Anambra Mass
Transit Limited ,Mr. Goddy Nnagbogu ……………..
Information had
it that most of Innoson customers have started buying TATA against their
support in buying his products..................
The state
Government and the company had signed an understanding to brand the vehicles
with a branding
company, Panta Rei International……………………………
Chukwuma has been
running around explaining to those that matter to assist him convince the state
Governor Chief Obiano and his team to focus on his company to support him
continue in business to avoid collapsing and thousands would lose jobs
…………………………………..
Innocent
Chukwuma: Most Innovative entrepreneur 2013
Dr. Innocent
Chukwuma, Chairman of Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Co. Ltd, the first
indigenous vehicle manufacturing plant in Nigeria was born in 1961 in Umudim,
Nnewi, Anambra. He is the last of six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Chukwuma
Mojekwu of Uru-Umudim Nnewi, Anambra State. After his education, he started
trading in spare parts under the name Innoson Nigeria Ltd in 1981. His company
is third after Leventis and Boulos Enterprises in assembling branded
motorcycles in the country.
His business has
metamorphosed into four manufacturing companies namely: Innoson Nigeria Limited
Nnewi, manufacturers of motorcycles, tri-cycles, spare parts and accessories;
Innoson Tech. & Industries Co. Ltd Enugu, manufacturers of Household and
Industrial Plastics, Health & Safety accessories, Storage containers,
Fixtures & Fittings, Electrical components & accessories; Innoson
Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Nnewi, manufacturers of Capacity City bus, Mini
& Midi buses, Pick-Up trucks and Garbage Collecting vehicles; General Tyres
& Tubes Co. Ltd Enugu, manufacturers of Tyres and Tubes.
The vehicles in
IVM fleet range from cars, trucks, SUVs, compactors, etc . Presently, the
company has made in-road into some African countries such as Ghana, Sierra
Leone, Chad, Niger, Togo.
As the first
indigenous motor manufacturing company in Nigeria, he says he wanted to prove
that Nigerians can do it. This he says has been proved. According to him, the
inspiration to go into vehicle manufacturing was drawn from a desire to see
Nigerians drive new cars. “Nigeria has become a dumping ground for second hand
cars. I know it was the high price of new vehicles that made Nigerians resort
to patronising old vehicles, but since we decided to manufacture the vehicles
here, the price is affordable, and our people can drive new vehicles again,” he
told Vanguard in a recent interview.
When the company
began, no one gave him a chance. He recalled that not so many believe it will
work, but today, ” they can attest to the fact that it’s working. People from
other countries are coming to copy what I did to replicate it in their own
country”. This story success has ensured employment for about 7,400 Nigerians
who work in the company’s factory.
For his efforts,
he has been made Deputy Chairman, Board of Trustees, National Coalition for
Jonathan/Sambo Presidency, November 2013;
The honorary Life Vice President of Nigerian Association of Chambers of
Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA) on November 23, 2013;
Ambassador for Peace by St. Andrews Anglican Church, Trans Ekulu, Enugu, April,
2012; Entrepreneur of the Year by Wesley University of Science and Technology,
Akure, Ondo State, March 2012.
He is also Most
Outstanding Indigenous Entrepreneur in the Manufacturing Sector by Enugu
Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) in January 2012;
National Council Member, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. Conferred the National Honour of the Officer of the
Federal Republic (OFR) on November 2011 by His Excellency, President Goodluck
Jonathan; Awarded Doctorate Degree in Business Administration (DBA) by Enugu
State University of Science and Technology, Enugu in November 2011 amongst
several other awards. Dr. Chukwuma who loves playing tennis is married to Ebele
and they are blessed with children.
During an earlier
interview with him, he recalls that : “I started as a small business man
dealing on spare parts at Nnewi. At that time, people were bringing only second
hand motorcycles to Nigeria, and I felt there should be a way to reduce the
price of the new ones, so that people will be interested enough to buy new
ones, rather than the second hand motorcycles.
“I travelled
overseas and found out that there were four companies importing motorcycles
into Nigeria. First was Leventis that was bringing the Honda brand, the second
company was Yamaco that was bringing Yamaha, the other company was Bolus that
was bringing Suzuki and the fourth was CFAO that was bringing moblet.
“These were the
companies that were dealing on motorcycle in Nigeria, and my company was the
next one. So when I went there, I discovered that when they brought the
motorcycles in crate and each crate contained one motorcycle which took a lot
of space and you can put about 40 units in one 40ft container. In one container
with 40 units of motorcycles in a 40ft container, the motorcycle will become
expensive. So after evaluating it, I went to overseas and packed 200 units in
one 40ft container and my price came down by 40%. Of course, this was cheaper.”
How was he able
to pack 20 units into one container? His response was simply ingenious:
“Because of my
experience in spare parts, I knocked it down and brought them here, and
arranged mechanics to assemble them, to couple them manually. The first five
containers I brought in took me about three months to sell. I went back and
brought another ten containers which took me about one month. I went and
brought twenty containers and it took one week, and when I brought fifty
containers, people were now paying in advance before they landed.
“There was a time
I was bringing 200 containers of motorcycles every month and spread them across
Nigeria. Because of that idea, my own price was cheaper by 40%, before other
people saw what I was doing and followed suit. That is why today, motorcycle
price crashed to N60, 000 from a high price of N150, 000 in the past.
“It was in the
course of doing this that I discovered that there are a lot of plastics in a
motorcycle, and that is one of the reasons I set up a plastic plant to produce
the plastics components locally. These are some of the things I did to bring
down the cost of motorcycle to about N60,000. Today, nobody thinks of buying
second hand motorcycle anymore in Nigeria. Everybody wants to buy new one
because new one is cheap, and I am going to do the same thing with motor
vehicles.
“In the near
future, you find out that all these “Tokunbo” vehicles in Nigeria will not work
out as people will prefer the new ones. With the support of Nigerians, we will
see that we will be there.
“Today, we are
importing engines; we are importing certain components for motor manufacturing,
but after sometimes, we will make them here. With the support of Nigerians and
the government we will make everything here, then Nigeria will be the first in
Africa to manufacture full made in Nigeria vehicles. According to Dr. Chukwuma,
the vehicle factory was set up for the entire African continent and not Nigeria
alone.
Said he said: “In
the near future, I’m sure we will take over the motor business in Africa. This
of course is with the support of
Nigerians.” To this end, the federal government has directed all MDAs to
patronise locally made vehicles and other goods. Inspite of this good intention and directive of the federal
government, Dr. Chukwuma observed that “sometimes some ministries would prefer Toyota or other
brands that they have used for 50 years. They don’t want to try our
made-in-Nigeria brand. But the ministries that have taken the bold step of
using our products, are happy they did”.
The Innoson boss
would boast beating his chest that the Innoson brand is comparable to any in
the world and that spare parts are no problem. “Presently, our manufacturing
plant at Nnewi is built to service the entire African continent, and good
enough we have been meeting up with market demands. Our strategy is to plan
futuristically, knowing that huge orders will come, and as it stands today, we
are able to meet up with the huge demands. We have the manpower and modern
technology to cope with expected challenges.”
Recently, at the
Federal Executive Council meeting, the Minister of Trade and Investment
revealed that the multinational Nissan company has written that they want to
partner with Innoson in vehicle manufacturing in Nigeria. While Dr. Chukwuma,
acknowledged this development, he was not so willing to let the cat out of the
bag. According to him, I’m aware that they have made such move, and on our
part, we are ready to go into any cooperation that will boost the nation’s
economy, and lead to increased productivity and provision of jobs for our
youths.
By Judith Ufford
