Stories by Franklin Alli
Saint Flairs Awards Limited, recently celebrated 25 years of operations in the awards industry. In this interview the vice_president, corporate development and managing director, Mrs. Ada Jerry_Ugwu, speaks on the journey so far, industry challenges, and the company’s vision for the future.

MD, Saint Flairs, Mrs. Ada Jerry-Ugwu.

Looking back, how has the journey been?
Saint Flairs Awards Limited was established in 1985 and officially incorporated in Nigeria as private liability company in 1987.  When we actually started we were the pioneer company in the awards industry in the country.

People don’t even know what awards was all about because the consciousness was not there. At that time, for so many companies, there was nothing like long service awards, there was no recognition of achievements, and all that.

Today, the industry has matured from one that makes trophies and ribbons to one that helps to recognise and motivate people.  We are now more than assemblers and engravers/screen printers.
How has the company grown?

Over the years, Saint Flairs has evolved from a one man department company to five departments (Marketing, Finance/Administration, Corporate Development, Graphics and Production). We started from Awka, Anambra State to Lagos, opened branches in Kaduna,  Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Kaduna.  In addition, we have approved official vendors and dealers in Accra and Freetown.
What’s your staff strength?

We have a staff strength of 70 comprising of 45 graduates/post graduates and other levels of staff.
Our core business includes Saint Flairs Awards which are basically plaques, trophies, medals and souvenirs, gifts and electronic products associated with awards. Corporate jewellers — these are lapel pins, brooches, cufflinks and coins.

There is also conference label leather product — executive leather bags, briefcases, wallets, conference bags and folders among others.
Why awards?

The concept of award is to encourage people who are doing well, it’s an avenue to motivate people to do better than what they are already doing. With this, there would be a healthy competition among people who strive for excellence. We do a lot of things to encourage a person, that’s why we start from schools so that from childhood people would be able to appreciate the idea of doing well, standing above others. Award is not all about money, but our society puts too much emphasis on money.

They see money as a means of compensation. It shouldn’t be so because recipients will spend the money and there would be nothing to show for their excellence and hard_work. You can give the money with an award that would be remembered for hard work and outstanding performance.  So, awards strengthen support, loyalty and hard work as well as inspire the hunger for achievements.
How big is the local awards industry?
The awards industry in the country is a big one. The industry is currently valued at $10 million (about N1.4 billion) and is steadily growing annually.  So, if you look at it, it’s even bigger than the advertising industry.
What are the challenges in the industry?

Thank you very much for this question.  There are a plethora of them. to begin with, the industry has neither an umbrella association nor is it being regulated by government. The industry has become an all comers affair because there is no regulation. Each day, new companies are spring up. Anybody can just come in and do anything.

Some operators don’t even know anything about the job.  We’ve try to form an association but each time you try to bring the operators together, they don’t corporate.  There’s no law to guide operators in the industry and this is not good for the sector.

Infrastructures problem is also affecting operators in the industry , for instance, there are a lot of machines that Saint Flairs would have been able to bring in but because of erratic electricity supply , if we bring them in, they would not be able to run efficiently here. Also, bulk of our raw materials are not available in the country.  So, we still have to source them from outside the country.

Outlook for the next five years?
We are moving ahead to achieve greater things, be more creative and then help in adding value to the business as we move into the vision 2020. Saint Flairs Award Limited has come to stay because we are promoting culture and excellence in the award industry.

Our vision is to build a world class business organisation. we intend to open up other business areas under the Saint Flairs Group and be multinational/ public quoted company before we hit 30.