By Princewill Ekwujuru

PZ Wilmar Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of PZ Nigeria Plc, a quoted company on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, NSE said it invested about N12.4billion ($75 million) in its vegetable oil production plant , as it expects 100 percent local content input in five years. The Managing Director of the company, Santosh Pillai disclosed this at the reward ceremony of Devon Kings vegetable oil ‘Cruise promo,’ where its trade partners   were rewarded with prizes worth over N30 million, which included cars and cash prizes in the Lagos zone of the promo for their performance in the 2014 financial trading year.

Speaking on local material input in the company’s production process, Pillai said, currently, 15 to 20 percent of its local production comes from local raw material, “this is because we just stated the plantation in Cross river state .” He noted. He stated further that the 26,000 hectares farmland in Cross River state on which the plantation rests is part of the company’s object to see that in the next five years 100 percent of the plantation will form significant portion of the company’s products.

Explaining the rationale behind the promo, Pillai who said PZ Wilmar is   a Joint Venture between PZ Cussons  and  Wilmar International started  operation in 2013 in Nigeria clarified that the purpose of any promotion is to ensure that trade partners are able to reach their consumers in a much more attractive manner and get the right kind of returns for the investment they have made.

He said Kings is a significant brand and when the company introduced the 5 litres “we wanted to ensure that the consumers understood the value of the product. We cannot reach the consumers fast unless we create incentives for the trade partners and make the product available and equally make the consumers aware of it”.  According to him the company’s   partners were able to do that very quickly and to appreciate what they have done, that is why the company introduced the promo to reward them, he said . “We have done it in South west, east, middle belt and the northern part of the country”

Delighted Adereti Bolanle of Bofik Nigeria Limited while appreciating the company for the reward said she met her volume sales of Kings Vegetable oil under the promo by the company. “We agreed that I should sell certain volume of Kings Vegetable oil and I met the target and with this gift I can see that it is rewarding to partner with them”, she said.

Another trade partner, Ogedengbe Folake Toyin who also won a car said “I won because I worked harder within 2014 and this is the result of that. I met the target of product sells. I appreciate PZ and as their brand is kings, they will dominate the market”. The target was to sell 3,000 cartons of  5 litres of Devon Vegetable oil within the three months of October to December 2014.