Face masks are in high demand as government has enjoined Nigerians to wear it for their safety, especially at this time that the number of cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection has continued to rise.
To promote the message, Transgreen Nigeria Limited, became the first large-scale local manufacturer of face masks as of July 2020. The company created a subsidiary, O-Care Medical Facemask factory, situated at Odofin Park Estate, Lagos State.
In an interview, the Managing Director/CEO of Transgreen Ltd, Mr Cyprian Orakpo, told Daily Trust that, the federal government’s policies on boosting local enterprises encouraged him to set up this firm along with the support the firm was expecting from the government, especially on zero tariff policy for importing raw materials for medical products.
Standardizing products takes great pain but makes products stand out, Orakpo said adding, “We set out O-Care to meet international standards in all the features of the face mask.
“Among what makes the face mask unique is the filter which is in the middle layer and it is 20 times more expensive than the other materials.
“Our market research shows that 80 percent of the mask in the market does not have the filter. It is dangerous to wear a mask that has no filter. Before we started to sell, we engaged NAFDAC to do an inspection of the facility, and it went through a lot before approval was granted,” Orakpo explained.
After venturing into the business, the O-Care Face mask factory boss said his team discovered that they were to pay the tariff, which became a discouragement.
“After clearing our imported items, we went back to regularize our document with the gazette showing zero tariff, but they said no, the goods have 10 to 20 percent duty.
We are supposed to bring in more raw materials but the tariff levied by customs is a challenge. We are still on it because I did not factor this duty in my pricing template,” Orakpo said.
He called on government to increase support for local firms as other countries are doing, especially for those providing the medical devices to enable it fight the COVID-19.
“We have lots of costs and need government support. The raw materials for PPE should have zero tariff,” the MD/CEO urged.
The firm, which is barely a month old, already has 80 staff on its payroll but is being challenged by inadequate power supply, as it runs more on generators.
Apart from promoting the setting up of local firms, there is also the need to encourage Nigerians to embrace local products.
Leading this drive is the Lagos State government whom the O-Care boss said launched the product by buying 250 cartons of 250,000 units of its face masks.
“We want them to buy on a weekly basis because the state consumes a lot of masks especially now that they are giving it free to public schools and it is being supplied to all the health institutions in Lagos.
On funding, Orakpo said the company got access to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention fund to banks. “We were able to access the intervention fund provided for manufacturers through our bank and they offered us as much as we needed. That is one other area that I must give kudos to the federal government,” he said.
Describing the technical capacity of the factory, Orakpo said the machine could produce 240,000 face masks daily but the efficiency level of the staff is just improving, being a startup. If the market conditions are favourable, the firm hopes to expand this capacity.”
“The market will determine that. We are partnering with Redstar FedEx to deliver to any part of the country. We are also concentrating on improving efficiency.
“We want the staff to get up to 80 to 90 percent of the installed capacity. We may not be able to get up to 100 percent. At the moment, we are doing around 50 percent production.” he added
Another challenge the company hopes to overcome is that of sourcing raw materials locally.
“At the moment, the raw materials are sourced from India, China, Europe, Indonesia and US, but they are cheaper in Asia. With this factory running since July, I am sure there will be efforts towards the local production of raw materials,” Orakpo noted.
Bringing the initial consignments especially from China was a great hurdle, he noted, as sea logistics was not possible, the firm flew in items worth 26 metric tonnes. “It was quite risky, but it was worth it,” he however said.
At the moment the firm targets producing masks to assist in flattening the COVID-19 transmission curve. However, it has its sustainability strategy beyond the pandemic. “We know that beyond COVID, hygiene and masks will never be the same again. Many hospitals that did not ensure their health workers including doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and others used face mask, gloves and other protective equipment will henceforth take it into consideration.”
The company also has plans to produce other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). “Once we stabilise on this, we have plans to manufacture PPEs, gloves and respirators. But we need encouragement from the government.
Instead of the government importing masks from China, it should buy from local manufacturers. They will invariably be helping the economy. Employment will increase and tax revenue to the government will also improve,” he noted.
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