As a key player in the processing and packaging industry, Mr. Duro Kuteyi, .manages Spectra Industries Limited. According to him, Spectra is actually involved in food processing and packaging.
“We are taking it upon ourselves to train some people also in food processing and packaging. We make Cocoa drinks and Soya products,” he said.
In the area of Cocoa drink, he disclosed that his company has Succo Cocoa drink and Spectra Cocoa drink. Spectra Cocoa has no sugar and no milk and because of the health implication because a lot of people don’t want sugar these days, Duro stated.
He further explains that with the Cocoa milk, one doesn’t need to add any milk because milk reduces the power of cocoa, saying, “we say those who want to live long will take cocoa because it prevents cardiac arrest, sudden death, heart attack and stroke.”
Not only this, he adds that the product prevents formation of blood clot which actually leads to stroke. A member of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), he is the President of the Nigeria Association of Technology Incubation Entrepreneur.
Mr. Kuteyi will be speaking at Food Nigeria 18 – 20 May 2016, Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, Nigeria. Food Nigeria conference is a three-day multisector meeting which will discuss current issues in the food supply chain management. It will present latest modern channels of food distribution in the region, advances in food handling and logistics, updates on safety management, and regulations on importation and exportation. He was invited to talk about food processing in Nigeria, and not one of the organisers.
“We have a group that is Technology Incubator Entrepreneurs. Those who have graduated from Technology Incubator Centre and those who are still there are members. The association is to mentor those who are still in the Incubator Centre,” he said.
He describes these individuals as people who are involved in so many activities in the area of production, as some are into food or agro-allied industry. Some are into chemicals, pharmaceutical, engineering.
In his words, these people need to be taught, encouraged and mentored in the area of packaging because Nigeria has good products but packaging is the problem. If we can improve on the packaging, certainly a lot of the products will get attention and will be purchased and some will even be exported.
As a strategy for improving on packaging in Nigeria, he states that to improve packaging in the country, those in government have to first of all understand what packaging or food packaging is all about and what type of packaging materials.
To him, it is when they have understood this that they would know how to protect the packaging sector because when someone in government hears about packaging of foods, he might think that one is talking about sacks, polybag or carton, forgetting that what is on their dining table is well packaged before they could purchase it.
“Most people eat jars and not knowing what is made of it and how it is made. These are what they need to know about packaging. When we say we don’t have appropriate packaging material and if they know this, it will be easy for them to understand what we are talking about because the type of bottle for jars can be used for so many products that can actually guarantee food security but this are not made in Nigeria,” he explains.
Duro further states that “you look at so many fruits and vegetables that can be packaged in this type of glass jars. The nearest to that one is that used in making glass jars or glass bottle for beer because of the large orders they get from breweries, the practice which does not create room for making small quantities for the SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises).”
Offering a piece of advice to prospective investors in the industry, he stresses that for those who want to start a business, he or she has to look at those with innovative ideas that can secure a space in the Incubating Centre.
In the past, he adds, it used to be all types of foods and products, but nowadays it is now restricted to innovative products unlike going to a Research Institution in which research work is available for commercialization that one can take and with that one you are sure of getting a place in the Incubation Centre and you can start your product from there.
“With that one, I think nobody will stop you. But, those who want to just do anything, sometimes you do something you know you have capacity for, or you can afford to finance. You use it to bring yourself up. Once you are here, then, you find another thing that you want to do that will lift you up until you get to where you can actually do a lot for yourself.