By: Talking Nutrition Editors
dsm-firmenich is a global partner, working at the crossroads of what’s essential for life, desirable for society and sustainable for our planet – and always driven by our purpose of bringing progress to life. We have nearly 30,000 employees working at sites and offices in almost 60 countries, enabling us to serve our customers in many markets around the world.
But there is always room to improve our operations and reach more customers by expanding our global footprint into new regions. That’s why we are thrilled to announce the opening of our latest office in Lagos, Nigeria - a region which is predicted to undergo significant economic growth.1 However, these opportunities for growth exist alongside a backdrop of national public health and development challenges, which require a collaborative, comprehensive and coordinated effort to achieve meaningful change.
Nigeria is a developing nation that is often considered one of the largest economies in Africa.2 However, it is a complex and challenging commercial environment. Legacy DSM opened the new office in 2021 to help customers navigate this landscape and better support with product launches and customer growth. Opening the new premises in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic unsurprisingly resulted in some delays, but our dedicated local team worked hard to overcome these issues. Now, the site is working at full speed with a team of seven committed employees – and it doesn’t stop there – we’re hiring more local people to continue to grow the business in this region.
At dsm-firmenich, we strive to be a force for good, because we believe caring about customers, communities, people and the planet is the right thing to do. Not only that, it’s also the only way to grow an enduring and profitable business. Our presence in Nigeria creates more opportunities to connect and support customers looking to enter or expand their business in this market. For instance, the new site enables us to invoice in the local currency, which is not only more convenient for customers, but also a unique advantage of our partner offering in this region. Moreover, the Nigerian team are experts in handling the import of goods into the region, which means we can reliably and safely import the products that our customers require. This local support helps to mitigate some of the complex challenges associated with supply chain, security and regulatory requirements.
Beside our Animal Nutrition and Health (ANH), Taste, Texture and Health (TTH) businesses, the new office mainly supports our Health, Nutrition and Care (HNC) business units, with particular focus on solutions related to our nutrition improvement segment and the early life nutrition market. Together with our customers, we can improve the nutritional solutions available to the people and communities in this region. This effort is particularly crucial as Nigeria is acutely affected by malnutrition, bearing the second highest burden of stunted children globally, with a national prevalence rate of 32% among those aged under five, which equates to two million children.3 dsm-firmenich is committed to help the Nigerian government tackle micronutrient deficiencies and support progress towards zero hunger.
Jaap van Beesten, Country Manager & Commercial Controller at dsm-firmenich, Nigeria, remarks: “We’re thrilled to be working in a brand-new office where we can reinforce our end-to-end partner offering for many valued customers in Nigeria. Our physical presence in the region enables us to better understand their needs and challenges and assist them with our unique portfolio of solutions, including the unique option of local sales in the local currency of Nigerian Naira. The business in Nigeria continues to grow and we’re excited to build further partnerships in the region.”
Our presence in Nigeria is already supporting many customers in the region, but our work is only just getting started. While our solutions are mainly sourced from South Africa or Continental Europe, we have been developing, and continue to develop, partnerships in Nigeria so we can locally source more solutions for our customers. Moreover, with the dsm-firmenich merger of equals, we are working closely with our legacy Firmenich colleagues who are also in the region. As such, we plan to expand our team to become a new combined force, along with two application labs on top of our main office, enabling us to offer our customers the full dsm-firmenich portfolio of solutions, including Perfumery & Beauty. Watch this space to find out how we continue to support our customers in Nigeria and bring more nutritional solutions to the region.
06 October 2023
3 min read
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