Feyisola Abiru, chief executive officer and founder, Home and You Furniture Limited, in an interview with Realnews during the commissioning of their ultra-modern furniture factory in Lagos. Excerpts:

Realnews: We just witnessed the commissioning of the Ultra-modern Furniture factory for ‘Home and You,’ why did you choose Ikorodu?

Abiru: First and foremost, I am from Ikorodu by virtue of marriage, my husband is from Ikorodu. When I was looking for a piece of land to establish the factory my husband suggested Ikorodu. And when I saw this piece of land I fell in love with it.

Realnews: How would this new factory impact on the growth of the Nigerian economy?

Abiru: We have procured semi-automated machines. They have the capacity for high output and we are hoping that by the time we are able to start operation with these machines, we can meet the national need of our products. We are also working towards going into exports, so we are hoping and working towards making sure that our products will be available in each and every home, schools and offices in Nigeria.

Realnews: What is the size of the facility?

Abiru: The size is over an acre that is about 4000 square meter.

Realnews: What are your expansion plans to other states in Nigeria?

Abiru: What we need at the moment is patronage. If we get good patronage we will have the capacity to increase and to grow. The Bank of Industry has indicated its interest to support us, it has been supporting us for almost two decades and has also indicated that its readiness to go with us all the way. If people patronise us and we get a lot of patronage locally, we would be able to expand to other states of the country.

Realnews: What was the capacity of the factory before this expansion?

Abiru: Before this, when the Bank of Industry gave us loan in 2006, we got manual machines. We could only produce two or three wardrobes a day, but the capacity we have now can produce almost 70 doors in a day, because they have the capacity to produce them. The machines are brought from Italy.

Realnews: What actually motivated you to go into this men-dominated business?

Abiru: I am a natural space enhancer. This is something I have passion for, enhancing spaces ever since I was very young. Even while I was in the university, everyone used to marvel at how I was able to manage and put things together. That was how ‘Home and You’ was born. After setting up my home, I realised that I could work with local artisans and working with them, they were able to interpret my designs and my concepts that gave me the nudge. And my business grew from there and when it grew beyond the use of local artisans I had to approach the BoI and it supported us. We were able get the manual machines that was about 13 years ago. After the 13 years we also outgrew the capacity of those machines and we approached BoI again and here we are. So, the machines we got are the semi-automated line, there is still a step forward, that is, the fully automated ones whereby everything is well synchronised. But because we need jobs in Nigeria, I have chosen the semi-automated, so there can still be human input.

Realnews: Are we expecting the auto-automated machines any time soon?

Abiru: Yes, what we have is a step below the auto, but that is our plans for the future.

Realnews: What are your challenges so far?

Abiru: Of course, everybody knows, power, multiple taxation, infrastructure, and lack of skilled labour. Lack of skilled labour is a major challenge and we would encourage government to pay attention to our vocational schools. We would also like the government to look into our raw material. The raw materials that we use for our production are still import based. We still have to import our materials, whereas the sources of the materials are home grown. People take away our wood, process them and bring them back to sell. If the government can encourage industrialisation in that regard whereby people set up plants for the production of engineered woods, it would help us. That way we are dealing directly with manufacturers of the board rather that dealing with middle men who bring in the board.

– Jul. 13, 2018 @ 17:05 GMT |