By Elizabeth Osayande

The Ggroup Managing Director, Gum Arabic Company Nigeria Ltd, GACON, Mrs Adaku Chidume-Okoro, has said despite the government’s efforts to address the fluctuation of naira to dollar, if the nation does not invest more in production, the exchange rate will keep dwindling.

Chidume-Okoro disclosed this at the recent 25th anniversary of the company, where she explained the impacts the firm was making in the lives of farmers, and also in the empowerment of women in the non-oil sector.

Excerpt of the interview

You are a key player in the non-oil sector of the economy, particularly exports. Tell us about your experience in the sector, and what has changed in recent times.

In recent times, I would say there have been pluses and minuses. These changes make us trade softly in order to avoid losses.

How do you describe the current government policies at best?

Well, it is very encouraging. In the first place, we can now look forward to better exchange rates from our proceeds. When we export and the money comes back, the exchange rate is going to be better. But all we request is that there should be stability in the exchange rate.

So if it is N1,000 to a dollar, we know it is N1,000 to a dollar. We don’t want a situation whereby today is N1,800, the next day is N1,000. It makes planning, budgeting, and contract signing very difficult for us.

Because you could sign a contract at a very high exchange rate when the exchange rate is high, suppliers also up their local prices at the same ratios and then when the fund is coming back if unfortunately, the exchange rate drops to one thousand it is going to be a problem for that business. So we are trying our best to guard against such a situation so that we don’t take your losses.

How do we change the narrative?

Well what is happening to our exchange rate, that is the dollar naira exchange rate has to do with production. We are consuming more than we are producing, and so long as that is the case there’s not there is hardly any improvement.

So if we can focus more on production. It holds the whole length of the value chain of agriculture up to exports. Then, we can earn enough foreign exchange and that should be able to take care of our balance of trade deficit.

Tell more about GACON

Gakon is a non-oil export company, basically an agri-export company. We are into export of different types of agri-produce, ranging from fresh ginger and dried split ginger, dried split turmeric, dried hibiscus flower, gum arabic of all grades, hot chili pepper, cassia tora seeds, dried kola nuts and prosopis juliflora.

How has it been being a woman that oversees a company like this?

Well, being aware of the uniqueness God put in creating the female gender makes me stand tall. Being aware that while God created men with raw materials, he created the women with refined material. So it means we should excel. We are better off at any point in time to do things better than our men could.

When we have that perception, when we have that understanding, we won’t feel intimidated as a woman. You will know you have better skills. God has equipped you to do things better. So that is where I operate and function. I don’t let anybody intimidate me.

How long have we been in the industry and the area of empowerment are you looking out for women out there?

We have always empowered women. We are still empowering them. The farmers, the bottom of the pyramid farmers, the poorest of the poor in the communities where we are situated, we try to help them, give them seedlings, give them fertilisers, give them microcredits to help them, you know, crop. And then in exchange, they bring their harvest to us. So we also dig boreholes for them.

We do health care. The more we can do as an organisation, the more our resources are limited. So we try to empower in the best way we can. And then those that we can engage as labour hands also in the factories, we do just that.

Can you quantify this empowerment that you have done so far?

Okay. it’s a lot. They’re like a foundation that you put, so just have the service of initiating. foundation No, no. We have, we do it under corporate social responsibility. And the good thing about it is that the little we have done has attracted the attention of some international agencies like you said.

So they came to our aid and gave grants and we were able to do more. So right now in Kafanchan, we are empowering 360 farmers. We give them fertilisers, we give them seedlings for their farm. We also give them microcredits to help them pay for labour.

In terms of projection, what are your future projections?

In the next two years, GACON is targeting to hit a turnover of $10 million for the year.

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