Oche: Collaboration Essential Between Brand Owners, Distributors
The National Sales Director, International Breweries Plc, a member of the world’s largest brewer, Ab InBev, Godwin Oche, speaks on why there should be synergy between brand owners and their trade partners. He also throws more light on the premium the Inte
How important is the role of a distributor in the supply chain?
They are actually very important to our supply chain because without them it will be a challenge getting our products to our customers. Definitely they are part of our route-to-market structure and they get to our consumers in good time. This is why we want to ensure that we make them happy and equip them to keep performing excellently. They are absolutely critical in terms of our supply.
When compared with other countries in Africa, how would you rate the distribution network here in Nigeria?
The distribution network is improving. It is a big challenge especially because of our road infrastructure in Nigeria. But in AB InBev, we took the decision to invest heavily in state-of-the art trucks, similar to what we have in our sister company in South Africa, to ensure that we deliver our products in good condition and on time so as not to compromise the products. We have also done some huge investments to support our distribution chain in Nigeria.
Why is it necessary to host your distributors to a gala?
The essence is to celebrate our esteemed partners and distributors. I call them partners because it is a relationship we have established over the years and it is a two-way street because of the way we look at business. It has to be a win-win situation and that is why we are here to celebrate outstanding performances for 2018.
As National Sales Director for International Breweries, what would you say are the major challenges bedeviling the sector, especially as regards multiple regulations?
The good thing is that this administration has tried to support and encourage manufacturers. If you look at the case of the recent excise duty increase, there was a negotiation between the Beer Sectoral Group (BSG) and the government. The most important thing is that they have a listening ear and there are always opportunities for both parties to sit down and agree on certain things. I believe this is the best way to approach it in order to avoid illicit trade and other illegalities. We currently have a good relationship with the government
What other support does International Breweries give to its distributors that contribute to their growth?
We have a robust route-to-market structure in place to support our distributors. You can see how excited they were today. I can tell you that I don’t think any multinational or FMCG Company in Africa has given the kind of prizes we gave out to our distributors tonight. We gave over 75 vehicles, including SUVs, trucks and tricycles. To break this down, it means we gave them cars for their personal use and trucks to support their redistribution network. They came at very high costs but as our partners, they deserve the investments and we need to make them happy.
Also as part of our support for their business, we are putting a Distribution Management System (DMS) in place to facilitate efficiency. What this means is that it gives our distributors some line of sight in terms of their sales to customers. With this, they can monitor their empty bottles easily, even when they are not in the warehouse, on their laptops and from the comfort of their homes. They can also monitor their businesses and performances remotely and without any cause for worry. It also helps them keep track of sales and retrieved empty crates from customers. This will make life very easy for them.
We have also started supporting them with vehicle financing, a loan they can repay over a period of time. We also support some key distributors by taking up the rent for warehouse spaces for them, providing them with forklifts etc. This is what makes us International Breweries, a proud member of AB InBev and different from other companies. We always have the interests of our partners at heart.
How do you think the sector can take advantage of modern technology innovations to improve the distributor’s current operations?
Even before we rolled out the DMS, I travelled with about 20 distributors to South Africa and we were there for five days. They witnessed live how the system is operated in our company in South Africa. This is so that they can get used to it, as well as see the benefits of using DMS in their businesses. In addition to DMS, we employed a support staff that will help train the distributors and equip their own staff with business management knowledge through giving them classroom and on-the-job training so that they can get used to the software. By the time they are comfortable with using it the software will be fully deployed to them. We also have a monitoring team in place that gives consistent support to them.
Some of your distributors were rewarded today for excellent performances. Can you shed more light on IB’s distributors’ reward scheme and the criteria you employ?
The reason why we had to put them into various categories is because we want the prizes to cut across all regions. We understand that all fingers are not equal and we want to encourage even the smaller distributors to grow, which is why we separated the awards into four bands. Those four bands are split into regions: East, West, Lagos regions, and national, and we give different prizes to these different regions. Each region has four categories of three winners per category. If you are a regional champion within your locality, you also stand the chance of winning a national award if you are strong enough to also operate at the national level.
At the end of the day, you saw a lot of satisfied distributors and partners with all the prizes they received. Despite all we have given out, we are also taking 16 people with their spouses to the English Premiership in the United Kingdom. In addition, every one of the distributors today went home with a pair of ‘his n hers’ wristwatches engraved with their names behind, for them and their spouses. This is to tell you we don’t joke with our partners and we treat them very well. We are in business because of them and we need to make them happy. No organization in Nigeria and even Africa can match the kind of awards we have given out here today. We want to ensure that we create that satisfaction and customer delight that cannot be matched anywhere.
International Breweries has world-class plants in different cities across the country to ensure there is constant supply of its products. Would you say they are meeting up with the demands of your customers?
What I will say is that for some years now, we have been struggling to meet up with demand. This is because we have high quality products that are second to none. We don’t compromise on quality and that is why our esteemed customers keep demanding for our products and we struggle to meet demand. This again was one of the reasons why we had to build the Gateway plant in Sagamu, in addition to the other plants we have in Onitsha, Ilesa and Port Harcourt. The Gateway plant is the biggest in Nigeria and West Africa. Currently, we are still increasing production to ensure we meet customer demand.