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Tag: Innovation

  • Driving growth through innovation

    Driving growth through innovation

    BOOK REVIEW

    Author: Robert Tucker

    Publisher: Berrett Koehler

    Reviewer: Goke Ilesanmi

     

    The target of business people or corporate organisations is to achieve substantial growth and by implication profitability. Yet, it is very challenging to achieve appreciable growth (which signifies productivity) and profitability in the midst of competition. The solution is innovation, that is, conversion of new knowledge into new products and services.

    That is why I want us to X-ray this book titled: Driving Growth through Innovation this week. It is written by Robert Tucker, president of The Innovation Resource, a consulting firm based in Santa Barbara, California. Tucker is a keynote speaker that is in high demand. A former adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, he advises a lot international organisations on innovation strategy.

    According Tucker, only companies that can consistently bring imaginative, value-added new products, services and value propositions to the market will survive and grow in a rapidly-changing economy. He says this is why in this text, he is taking you behind the scenes inside 23 Innovation Vanguard Companies to benchmark how they have revamped their innovation approach for growth, profit and competitive advantage.

    Structurally, this text contains ten chapters. Chapter one is entitled 21st century innovation. Tucker educates that there is an unmistakable feeling of excitement in the air in companies that are growing as people move about with a palpable sense of purpose. He says growth in revenue and net earnings begets many wonderful, positive things to companies and their people. Tucker adds that growth brings higher salaries, bonuses, fringe benefits for employees and managers, dividends, rising value to investors, etc.

    He says many firms today are growing, but they are not growing fast enough to keep up with today’s shareholder values and tomorrow’s shareholder expectations.

    Chapter two is based on the subject matter of leading innovation. In the author’s words, “Today’s leaders face a quandary. They must innovate, lest tomorrow the cupboard of new growth opportunities be found bare. But they also know that time is short, especially for the CEO.” To corroborate his assertion, Tucker quotes Business Week thus: “What is striking is not just the number of CEOs getting the boot but how little time they were allowed to prove themselves.”

    Tucker says unless the CEO is able to raise the company’s stock price in the near term, he well realises that he may not be around to see the pay-off from projects that are in the development stages right now. According to him, “This preoccupation with short-term results has led to rampant cost-cutting, asset manipulation, and ill-advised acquisitions. Nevertheless, there is a growing realisation among boards of directors, Wall Street analysts, and senior management teams that innovation must be a continuing priority regardless of who sits in the CEO’s chair.”

    Chapter three is entitled Creating the culture. Here the author says changing a company’s culture is never easy. Tucker stresses that the good news, based on his study of Innovation Vanguard companies, is that with the right leadership, cultures can be reshaped and amazing results can accrue. He says culture refers to an organisation’s values, beliefs and behaviour transmitted through subtle cues, employees sharing their interpretations of events and largely through the behaviour and attitudes of leaders that signal what is expected.

    Tucker stresses that if an organisation values ‘playing it safe’, risk-taking is inherently discouraged. He adds that if it values cohesion, loyalty to the company way, conformity and blind obedience to authority, then it devalues their opposites. If it hires people that comfortably ‘go along to get along’ then it devalues those who are inclined to challenge rules and boundaries, educates Tucker.

    This author says a company’s culture may or may not be conducive to promoting innovation. He adds that its reward system may be at odds with encouraging people to want to try something that may not work. According to Tucker, “It is easy for leaders to say to employees, ‘We want you to take risks, we want creative ideas bubbling forth, we want you to think outside that box, oh, and we also want you to make your numbers, and we don’t want failure.’ The message that gets translated to the farther reaches of the organisation: Make your numbers and we don’t want failure.”

    In chapters four to six, this author discusses concepts such as empowering the idea management process; mining the future; and fortifying the idea factory.

    Chapter seven is based on the subject matter of producing powerful products. Here, Tucker says in a recent year, consumer-products makers churned out more than 31,000 new products in the United States alone, including multiple varieties of everything from tomato to garbage bags. This author adds that only few of these products will survive, and fewer yet will succeed.

    “The most optimistic estimate is that only one in five launches will succeed; the most pessimistic, one out of 671. Many failures result from miscalculations about what customers need. The product is developed for all the wrong reasons. It was the CEO’s pet project. The engineers fell in love with the ‘really neat’ technology and assumed buyers would too….,” adds this author.

    In chapters eight to ten, Tucker analytically X-rays concepts such as generating growth strategies; selling new ideas; and taking action in your firm.

    It is impressive that the ideas articulated in this book are rich, logical, didactic, creative and innovative. On style, one thing that works for this text is effective communication, which is achieved through brilliant employment of language and accurate graphology (punctuation). Tucker makes generous use of quotes, at the beginning of every chapter, to achieve conceptual reinforcement. He also uses quoted expressions (e.g. pages 72 to 75) to lend authenticity to his discourse. Tucker includes graphics to achieve visual amplification of understanding on readers’ part.

    However, the grammatical error “… of watching credit ratings be downgraded…” (page 14) instead of “… of watching credit ratings being downgraded…” is noticed.

    Finally, this compendium of innovation tips is a must-read, and the tips, must-apply for all firms that want to succeed by staying ahead of competition through innovation.

  • ‘Innovation vital to entrepreneurship’

    ‘Innovation vital to entrepreneurship’

    For small business owners, who desire to become successful, embracing innovation remains the key to removing the stumbling block on their way to sustainable growth and productivity. Daniel Essiet reports.

    Vera Akpan, a micro entrepreneur, is off to a good start. Oremicraft, a craft firm she started as a hobby, has evolved into a thriving business focused on export of hand-made bags and accessories.

    Oremicraft, a child of the resourcefulness of Miss Akpan, a Masters’ holder in Public and International Affairs from the University of Lagos, produces handmade craft pieces, such as bags and accessories; wallets, bibs, hair pieces, and belts, among others, from local materials.

    The handmade goods not only enjoy tremendous patronage locally and internationally, her company’s exquisite pieces also competing favourably with designer bags manufactured in any part of the world in terms of quality, design and patronage.

    Miss Akpan told The Nation that the business of handmade bags and other accessories has become lucrative and is the rave of the moment.

    According to her, Nigerians have shown interest in local bags and accessories and are beginning to patronise them instead of foreign-made one. She said as the quality of the local handbags is improving, the patronage also increases. She, however, said the cost of the locally made products varies, depending on some factors, such as the maker’s expertise.

    Also, the value the maker places on her services, her location, the financial status of her client, and her strategy also count for how much a product is sold. Quality is, however, the most important factor. For instance, depending on quality of materials used, a customer could get a high quality handmade bag for N15, 000 or more.

    According to her, the business requires lots of creativity, artistry and energy. Whether artistic or not, she said the skills could be acquired by anyone who is interested in it. But how long the training takes depends on the level of creativity of the trainee.

    Operators said it is cheaper to set up the business. Miss Akpan disclosed that for as little as N20, 000, one could set up a small outfit. This, however, excludes the rent and training. Training varies, depending on the trainer and the trainees. And the basic equipment needed by a trainee include sewing machine (industrial or manual), filing machine and adhesive gum.

    Recalling how she started, Miss Akpan said in 1997, when she was a student of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Ogba, Lagos, she was used to knit for pleasure. Thereafter, she did a throw away car pillow for her uncle and was paid N300. It was at that point the idea of making handmade bags and accessories was born.

    She started very small, using the home to try out her first product ideas. Since then, she has never looked back, as subsequent products she churned out were well well-received.

    She said she used her savings to buy her first stock. Now, she is part of an industry worth millions of naira. And it is projected to grow further, spurred by a resurgence in traditional crafts, such as knitting, handmade designing, sewing, paper craft, and pottery.

    According to her, many people want something unique than the high street, yet more affordable than the designer labels.

    Asked if turning a hobby into a business is as easy as the growing range of specialist magazines and e-commerce sites would have people believe, she said: “It is very easy to make lots of lovely stuff-the hard part is selling it and building a name for yourself.”

    To her, Nigeria has many entrepreneurs, with nearly 70 per cent of the workforce self-employed. Unemployment or fear of redundancy is the catalyst for most of the business owners who are desirous of becoming entrepreneurs. She, however, said for most entrepreneurs, a chronic lack of innovation is stifling business growth and competitiveness.

    She, therefore, argued that innovation is the way to move forward. According to her, entrepreneurs are key actors in turning low productivity around to create lasting economic benefit and quality jobs.

    She recommended the establishment of an economic environment that enables entrepreneurs to innovate and compete to increase productivity and enable them to grow into quality employers.

    She, however, noted that despite the tough economic climate, there are customers out there who are looking for the kind of hand-made items she and other aspiring entrepreneurs like her create.

    “You need to make sure you know your customer and whether there’s any direct competition in your area,” she advised, expressing confidence that her brand will do well in the face of competition from international and well known luxury brands.

  • Reckitt Benckiser brings innovation into market

    The business landscape in Nigeria is undoubtedly attractive to investors because of the size of the population. Consequently, the array of items  on shelves in supermarkets and in the mass market may be sometimes confusing to consumers. Nowhere is this dilemma more evident than in the health, hygiene and home care products segment of the fast moving consumer goods sector. Understandably, competition for patronage by operators in the sector is fierce. But in an increasingly health conscious world, people  will only choose to buy the best. The products that will ultimately survive the contest for consumer loyalty will be ones manufactured with quality using world-class technology.

    In selling  products consumed by everybody, there is the added burden of ensuring that the product is exciting and appealing. And if retailers  are to agree with the position of Jack Trout and Al Ries in their landmark book, then retail business is not truly a battle of products but a battle of perceptions. The implication of this is that even if a product is of the highest quality imaginable, retailers  must still work on the perception of consumers.

    That is why Reckitt Benckiser Nigeria Limited, the producer of Dettol Soap and market leader in health, hygiene and home care products segment has adopted innovations to achieve its five decades of patronage and customer loyalty.

    Following their innovative strategy, a new Dettol variant called Dettol Re-energise was added to the existing variants. The new soap has the combination of a reviving pleasant citrus fragrance and the trusted Dettol germ protection function.

    The new dettol soap underscored the acceptability of the product  as a household name in the health and hygiene segment.

    Reckitt Benckiser has continued to innovate, noting that being innovative has helped it to build the Dettol franchise across markets including Nigeria.

    The journey began in 2009 when the  ‘Good Health in Our Hands’ campaign was launched, as well as series of programmes. The Dettol team  have gone to schools where they have reached nearly three million students and have taught them good hand washing practices; they  have also  reached new mothers and have engaged with them to spread the message of health and hygiene.

    Innovation is one of the pillars that accounted for the success of  Dettol in its last 50 years of its existence in Nigeria.

    Dettol has been passed on from generations to generations to provide a healthy and hygienic environment. It  has been so successful that its name has become the generic name for health and hygiene.

    Dettol has  recorded tremendous growth since its introduction to the Nigerian market. In the last five years, it has achieved 216 per cent growth in its market share and is now present in 63 million households in Nigeria, which means one out of every three households in Nigeria uses Dettol.

    Research has shown that people want a soap that has pleasant fragrance and ability to refresh them, this is why a Dettol Soap variant with a pleasant long lasting orange fragrance that refreshes and also gives them protection against germs was introduced.

    Dettol was able to triple its market share because it has adopted the right market strategy of building consumers’ trust and confidence in it. It  has the biggest consumer direct contact programme in Nigeria. The product has reached out to 5.8 million mothers in 44 cities in Nigeria, I.e, close to six million mothers in five years, who were  sampled and thought good hygiene practices and were  educated  on what good hygiene does for them and their families.

    The product has also  reached 3.5 million school children in three years by visiting 7,000 schools, teaching  them how to wash their hands and other good hygiene practices. In the last five years, the product  has achieved 216 per cent growth in its market share and is present in 63 million households in Nigeria, which means one out of every three households in Nigeria uses Dettol.

  • By innovation, harvests increase

    By innovation, harvests increase

    The Director, Osun State Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, highlights the achievements of the Aregbesola Administration in the last three years.

    By November 2010 when the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola took over the baton, Osun was barely a year less than two decades. What the entire state could boast of in internally generated revenue (IGR) in almost twenty years was no more than N300 million every month at the very highest. Records indicate it fell short of that many times.

    However, by November 2013, a period of three years, by merely blocking all the leakages, Osun now rakes in N1.6bn in IGR monthly without expanding the tax net and the prospects are high and encouraging. What this indicates in clear terms, is that in all of its 19 years of existence as a state before the advent of the Aregbesola administration, Osun could muster a paltry N300million in what its people could contribute for its survival and continued existence. Conversely, in three years, the state grew its IGR by 433 percent.

    Glimpsed from the perspective of this phenomenal growth, Nigerians are wont to go back to such statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics in terms of development indices to reason why Osun shows the highest capacity for outstanding growth in the whole country at the moment despite the unenviable 34th place in the revenue allocation ladder and meagre opportunities to generate funds internally.

    The National Bureau of Statistics announced to the world that Osun ranks highest in public school enrolment in the country in a national environment where public school enrolment figures make very loud statements of the rot in the country’s education sector.

    Within the same period and owing to the same factors, the National Bureau of Statistics placed Osun in the league of states with the lowest unemployment rate with the lowest figure of 3.0 where even Kwara ranks 7.1, Lagos ranks 8.3 and Oyo 8.9.

    Of course, the obviously low crime rate in the state did not elude the observation of Participants of the Course 22 of the National War College Abuja which spent some days in the state on an assessment tour within the last two months.

    All these indications of success cannot be happenstance. If anything, they represent the direct outcomes of ingenious, coordinated and determined interventions in the affairs of a state that was brought to its knees in all spheres of life.

    Declaring that “For me and for all of us, it is work, work and more work!” on the day of his inauguration at the state capital, Osogbo on November 26, 2010, Governor Aregbesola left no one in doubt on the direction his administration was to follow more so with the resolve to run an unusual government.

    He seemed to have read Alfred North Whitehead well. Whitehead’s logic that “simple solutions seldom are,” and that “it takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious” readily provides the only template for any critical mind to analyse the problem-solving fervor of the governor.

    The state with a population of about 3.8 million people had its difficulties spelt out in all the areas. The education sector presented a depressing outlook. Schools did not promise learning. Hospitals did not promise health. Roads did not promise safe journeys. Markets did not promise sales. Farms did not promise food. But even in the face of these, the people had resigned to fate; having been cowed into silence and trepidation by the combined evil forces of foisted poverty and festering violence.

    But realising that “fear is the lack of faith in one’s ability to create powerful solutions,” as reasoned by T.F. Hodge in his From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with “The Divine Presence”, what have emerged in the last three years in Osun represent “powerful solutions” to break the shackles of poverty and set the people on a path to greatness.

    The distinct admission, that the same old solutions cannot continue to be applied to the same old problems, have culminated in ground-breaking ideas that have only placed the state steps ahead of its peers.

    The youth employment strategies employed by the government have proved to be not only ingenious but efficacious. Forty thousand youths engaged through the Youth Empowerment scheme and its allied forms are the reasons for such commendations by the World Bank, National War College Course 22 Participants, American embassy, the Sultan of Sokoto, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, and a host of others who have seen that something unique is taking place in Osun beyond the ordinary.

    In a country with mounting restiveness in all her regional parts, the Osun job creation specimen provides development experts fresh vistas of ideas to solve not only Nigeria’s but Africa’s bourgeoning unemployment predicament. That the World Bank adapted this model and presented it to the Federal Government culminating in the Youth Employment Social Support Operations, YESSO speaks volume about the Osun’s now established thinking out of the box.

    Yes! The reforms in the education sector have brought about hoopla. But that is only to the very extent that humans must naturally resist change even when they are to transit from hell to paradise. This is coupled with the fact that the ever-opportunistic opposition camp, boxed to a corner and dazed by the chains of innovative projects, is poised to confuse the citizens with its dubious manipulative characterization.

    Ranking Opon Imo, the Tablet of Knowledge among four best global learning tools by the United Nations-backed World Summit Award Global Congress strengthens the claim that from Osun has emerged “powerful solutions” to the problem facing quality education.

    A combination of uninspiring learning environments, ill-motivated and unqualified teaching personnel, inadequately prepared curriculum and other problems had all conspired against quality learning.

    If governance means responsibility to the people at all, the solutions proffered have addressed the roots of failure and ignited fresh passion for learning. The years to come are to confirm the ingenuity that lies in the solutions as examinations results are already indicating that the rot is disappearing.

    The Senate Committee on Education, led by Senator Uche Chukwumerije, did not just recommend the Osun education model for the entire country for nothing. There is no argument about the fact that Nigeria has lost its grip on the education sector with the concomitant huge costs to progress, order and development.

    A large illiterate population readily promotes poverty, diseases, stagnation and violence. The Senate’s assessment of the Osun model and subsequent recommendations for national acceptance and adoption as a way out of the present conundrum is a powerful endorsement of the creative governance in the state.

    The creativity resonates in tourism to attract people to Osun; it resonates in agriculture to cause massive food production; in youths engagements to re-orientate youth and create the new total man who is useful to his society. In environmental cares, the government has demonstrated a rare foresight in the management of its affairs that a hitherto uninspiring environment now greens with order and coordination.

    It is also on record that this foresight made the state to stay afloat when many states of the federation came under the mercy of massive floods; a national catastrophe that had forced the Federal Government to belatedly spend billions of Naira to limit loses of lives and properties. Just before the current administration took over, it was tragedy galore as flood swept humans and goods away even before the very eyes of those who had no solutions to society’s pressing problems.

    The innovative nature of the solutions always provided is the very reason for the noise. But there has emerged a pattern. Virtually all innovative ideas that had ignited heated debate and hullaballoo have been embraced surprisingly by their initial vociferous critics.

    What other states of the federation and the Federal Government have done with the youth engagement strategies, re-branding of the state, and others have merely shown that it is a matter of time for the education reforms models, projects financing strategies and others to be adopted as indispensable options for rapid growth.

    Of course, some have accused the administration of obduracy; castigating it for sticking to its ideas of development even in the face of mounting criticisms.

    But the driver behind the wheel, just like the American inventor and businessman of the 19th century, Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, says, “I’m convinced that the best solutions are often the ones that are counterintuitive – that challenge conventional thinking – and end in breakthroughs.

    “It is always easier to do things the same old way…why change? To fight this, keep your dissatisfaction index high and break with tradition. Don’t be too quick to accept the way things are being done. Question whether there’s a better way. Very often you will find that once you make this break from the usual way – and incidentally, this is probably the hardest thing to do—and start on a new track, your horizon of new thoughts immediately broadens. New ideas flow in like water. Always keep your interests broad – don’t let your mind be stunted by a limited view.”

  • ‘Our innovation in education can curtail terrorism’

    ‘Our innovation in education can curtail terrorism’

    Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, during a recent media chat with some selected journalists spoke on some socio-economic developments in the state, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

     

    Your government came up with the now famous tablet otherwise known as Opon Imo (treasure trove of wisdom or tablet of knowledge), which it hopes to improve learning. But there are fears that the project has gulped and will gulp more in terms of funding. There is also the issue of sustainability. What’s your take on this?

    We project that the Opon Imo will be distributed among 153, 000 students across secondary schools from SS1-3. We imported 50, 000 Opon Imo and we are assembling the rest 100, 000 here in the country. Talking about the scalability and whether it can be sustained here, the issue of sustainability does not arise. You see, during the launch, my brother and friend from Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, said ‘those who say this is fated for failure and therefore might not be sustainable, please just tell them that does it require any persuasion to reject leaf as the medium of serving food rather than using plates?’ If that idiom or illustration is quite clear to you as it is to me, you know that Opon Imo is an innovation, no doubt, that is bound to change the idea of learning forever in Osun and in the world. Why? And I say that the alternative to Opon Imo is beyond whatever anybody can imagine.

    But in that our own, we limited the holding capacity of the Opon Imo tablet to the 56 text books that we need. There could be states where students learn up to 100 subjects, Opon Imo has the capacity to take all the 100 hundred subjects as against 56 subjects we do here. So the contents we have are just a reflection of what we need. Let’s now agree that the needs are the same, what’s the average cost of a textbook? I did the survey and I found out that the average cost of a textbook is N1,000. For any pupil at that level of education to have the number of books in Opon Imo, the parent or the government must be ready to spend N56, 000. But that’s not the case here. If each tablet contains 56 books that would have cost either a government or parents at least N85, 680, 000, 000 but we spent just N200million. If hard copies are N85billion plus at N1, 000 average cost per book and digital copies of the same books are N200million, which is cheaper?

    So, what is cheaper to acquire: is it the hard copy or the digital copy? Which is sustainable: is it the procurement of hard copies of books every year or the procurement of Opon Imo that can last for five years? The only thing you can say is this, each child may not need 56 books in a year, and I agree with you. But you cannot deny the fact that having these books is an advantage. You can’t deny that fact. Even if you reduce the books to 10 per student, the cost of that to either the government or the parent is still more than N200million. It is the most cost-effective way affording each child’s assess to books wherever they are, whether in the cities or single hamlet settlements.

    Laudable as this initiative is, what measures are in place to ensure continuity after you have left the scene as governor?

    We will try and get a worthy successor. The people will always choose their own government. But we are not God. But one thing is clear in human nature, nobody will leave that which is clear to something that is uncertain. In the past, human beings were not always wearing clothes; it came as the knowledge of man advanced. But since cloth came, man has refused to drop it. So if modernisation is a result of human advancement and there has not been any single advantage of that advancement, in that philosophical sense, I don’t think even anybody in his normal sense will deny that which is cost-effective, which makes learning better, which gives you the access to learning, which guarantees universal access to all forms of learning to the old order which is not as enduring and which does not provide for all the way this is providing for all.

    So by the normal human attitude to change and advancement, there is no question about how succeeding regimes will take this. That’s one. But beyond that, is the issue of expertise to operate and maintain. The workings of Opon Imo is not different from your normal GSM phone, its touch screen with finger control. The device is divided into three essential segments namely: the e-library, textbook and the virtual learning centre. The operation of the tablet is amazingly simple such that any 14-year-old can easily use.

    But in spite of that, we have devised a means to ensure that all teachers at that level will be given training on the operation of the tablet and in each school there will be a maintenance unit in which the schools themselves will manage. And should there be a problem beyond the management of the school, we are going to have in nine zones, maintenance centres to attend to intractable challenges.

    To reduce downtime to reduce any challenge any student will have. We have deployed units of the tablets to three schools and I’ve not heard any extraordinary issue. The way the youngsters have taken to the tablet is amazing because it’s as if their heads have been programmed for it. They are amazing in their knowledge of the tablets.

    If you listened to my speech during the introduction, I said not just the software will be produced here but the hardware will be assembled here too. The demand for the tablet outside the state is expected to be heavy within the next three years and I think will cover the entire state of the federation. What Opon Imo guarantees is that wherever the students are they can learn; whether in the school, at home, on the farm, on the field, inside the car, inside the bus, inside the taxi, everywhere and anywhere.

    Opon Imo has huge potentials. The capacity of the device is limitless, it’s a vital tool. It can also be used for religious education and anti-terrorism training for instance. All we need to do is to get scholars to produce the right content that would be used to assist the almajiris to learn and others as well.

    What is Osun doing to promote agriculture?

    What we have done in agriculture is more than what we have done in other sectors.

    The three cardinal points of this administration are centred on agriculture intervention and is food- based. It is our major concern in agriculture. We created an omnibus programme, ORIS, communist agriculture. Our administration is just a fly by night administration. Our programmes are integrated.

    You once said that the state was ready to grant tax holidays to investors who are interested in investment in agriculture. Has the state recorded any success along that line?

    Outside Lagos, I don’t see any other government that has been able to attract more investment in the last few years. We have three companies now that have come on board in line with our incentives.

    There is the garment factory that our intervention has brought. It is the largest garment factory in Nigeria. There is RLB, which is a company from Ghana, that produces telephone handsets, laptops, desktops. They have commissioned their plant here. This was possible as a result of our bold initiative.

    Hospitality industry is growing daily. Since we assumed office, the influx of people in the state has improved substantially in the state.

     

     

     

  • Chicken Republic refreshes brand equity with innovation

    Chicken Republic refreshes brand equity with innovation

    Owners of hospitality brands who are worth their salt know that healthy tasty meals, nice ambience and excellent customer relations are very important ingredients that will drive traffic to their outlets and make customers prefer them any time. Thus, forward-looking service providers are not known to joke with being continuously innovative on how best they can serve and satisfy their patrons in order to make them come back again and again.

    Aligned to the need to strengthen positive and maximum leisure experience for lovers of good food, Chicken Republic, a world-class modern African Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) has introduced its variant of crispy chicken named Spicy Crunch™ as well as the commencement of the revamp of its restaurants in a bid to offer its customers extraordinary dining experience.

    The latest initiatives, according to the management of Chicken Republic, are part of a global market repositioning strategy by the leading restaurant which has presence in 14 Nigerian cities and Ghana. Established in 2004, the world-class chicken QSR has 65 stores in the two countries.

    Explaining the rationale for the initiatives, the Head of Marketing and Public Relations, Chicken Republic, Mrs. Susan Rotimi, told journalists during the experiential soft launch of Spicy Crunch at the revamped Bode Thomas outlet in Surulere, Lagos, that the steps were part of the company’s commitment to help customers get more out of life. The Marina and Jibowu outlets have also been revamped while work is in progress at the other restaurants across Nigeria and Ghana.

    According to her, the new variant with rice, which is being offered at a promo price of N600 till May 28, is seasoned to perfection with Chicken Republic’s signature West African spices.

    “Chicken Republic is committed to developing best-in-class ambience that offers customers more than an eating experience. This is the way we are living our commitment to helping our customers get more out of life,” she said.

    Mrs Rotimi explained that the new product offering was part of the ongoing market repositioning strategy aimed at serving the consumers better. ‘‘In our response to consumer need based on resaerch, there is a big demand for crispy chicken that is not oily and moist. Crispy chicken is a product that Nigerians love but they complained about what is available out there. So, we decided to give them something they really love to have, and the testimony has been fantastic. Again, another testimony about our new product offering is the authentic fresh West African spices that we use and the fact that we understand the African palate; and our customers love us for that. This is what Spicy Crunch is all about,’’ she said.

    On the revamp of the outlets, the Head of Marketing and PR said the initiative was in demonstration of the visionary and market leadership of the Chicken Republic brand, assuring that the company will continue to offer soulful, African spiced chicken delivered in a world-class modern environment. ‘‘We realise the importance of constantly raising quality and standards to improve customer satisfaction,” she said.

    Mrs Rotimi said the company has recorded a 70 per cent increase in sales year-on-year of revamped stores, a development which is said to be the result of the fresh modern ambience the revamped restaurants offer. She stated that the company is well focused in its commitment to the delivery of extraordinary customer satisfaction premised on quality product, product innovation and consistency.

    Also speaking, the Chief Operations Officer, Mr Kofi Abunu stated that the revamp of the outlets and the introduction of the Spicy Crunch initiatives were among several initiatives being implemented by the company to strenghten the Chicken Republic brand in order to deliver more value and benefits to the consumers so that they could get more out of life.

    According to him, the company in acknowledgement of the consumer as king, has continued to place the consumers at the centre of everything the company is doing, even as he assured that the vision of Chicken Republic was to make life better for the customers and other stakeholders alike by being a vibrant brand that delivers value at all times.

    ‘‘We are always committed to doing our best so that we continuosuly offer the best to our customers in terms of quality offerings. Our motto is ‘quality, kindness and value’, and it is on these pillars that our operation is premised. This new product offering and the revamp of our outlets, therefore, represent another step forward in our strive for excellence through innovative brand evolution,’’ Abunu said.

    “Product variety is a key driver of delivering extraordinary satisfaction to our customers. Our guests love our soulfully spiced chicken and anything we introduce that builds on our authentic West African spiced chicken seems to be a hit, so we’re introducing Spicy Crunch to further reinforce our brand as a destination for wholesome, sizzling meals delivered in a fresh modern restaurant environement”.

    He stated that Chicken Republic remains optimistic about its operations and confident that the investment made in key areas of its business will deliver strong competitive edge and position the brand for an upward growth in the QSR sector.

    A customer, Mr Frank Afam, praised the new initiatives by the management of Chicken Republic, saying the marketing repositioning strategy would go a long way in builidng brand loyalty. He said he has made the QSR his number one choice over the years because of the authentic fresh African spices for which Chicken Republic offerings are renowned.

     

  • ‘African banks lead sector’s innovation’

    The Group Managing Director, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc, Ladi Balogun, has said innovation in mobile payments, financial inclusion, and regulatory intervention is making sub-Saharan African banks the future of sustainable banking in the continent.

    In a presentation made in London, Balogun said: “In a region that is often a slow follower, African banks are increasingly becoming first movers.”

    He cited M-PESA, the Kenyan banking system and the role its regulator has played in promoting mobile payments and financial inclusion which has resulted in the highest mobile payment penetration numbers in the world.

    Balogun also cited a leading South African bank recently conferred with a global award for innovation, with solutions such as social (network) banking, cardless Automated Teller Machine (ATM) withdrawals, unique branch formats, aimed at increasing accessibility and convenience.

    In the case of Nigeria, Balogun said regulatory innovations, led to one of the boldest and most efficient crisis resolution efforts to be recorded by any bank regulator in recent times. He noted: “Within three years the Nigerian banking industry has gone from non-performing loan ratio’s of over 25 per cent to less than five per cent, and aggregate industry operating profit likely to cross $3 billion in 2013.”

     

     

     

  • FG to support innovation – Jonathan

    FG to support innovation – Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan said on Monday that the Federal Government was working toward entrenching a system that would be the bedrock of innovations for the total transformation of the education sector.

    The President said this at the opening of the National Education Innovations Exhibition in Abuja.

    Represented by the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, Jonathan said that “in working towards the total transformation of the Nigerian system that is responsive to the needs of our society, one key thing that must be in our minds is that of entrenching a system that is bedrock of innovation.”

    “In doing this, we must understand that innovation is not something that we start teaching our children, rather, it is an approach towards thinking differently that must be encouraged and ultimately nurtured.”

    He said that his administration would continue to encourage and support innovations by individuals and organisations in order to enhance progress in the society.

    The President added that in view of the challenges that the education sector faced, government had consistently improved budgetary allocations to the sector.

    “Between 2010 and 2012, allocations to the education sector at the federal level increased from N234 billion in 2010 to N409 billion in 2012,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the president as saying during the exhibition.

    He noted that government must be in a position to provide Nigerian youths with the opportunities and tools with which to enhance their skills and competencies in driving diverse sectors of the economy.

    “We must also take every step to ensure that outputs of our educational institutions as well as innovations are exploited for the full benefit of the society.

    “Government agencies must continue to encourage the commercialisation of innovations from individuals and institutions,” Jonathan noted.

    In her address, Rufa’i, who expressed concern that most innovations remained in the institutions, said if educational innovations were not put to use, it would be to the detriment of the country’s national objectives.