Counterfeiting and Imitation Still A Major Challenge In Nigeria Foam Industry

Just as piracy has eaten deep into the fabric of Nigeria's entertainment industry, Vitafoam, one of Nigeria's oldest foam manufacturing companies in Nigeria, said counterfeiting and imitation of its products are the major challenges facing the organisation and the industry at large.

The company, which recently celebrated 51 years of doing business in Nigeria, said imitation of its products is a major obstacle, especially in the North and that the complaints keep coming in.

"We had to come up with a measure to check that challenge. Now, on our foam (and products) we have a panel on it which customers can scratch and send a free text of the code or number under the panel to us for confirmation, to be sure the product is genuine," Theresa Okhai, a branch manager told Nigeria local newspaper, Premium Times.

Another problem is incessant power supply.

 "You cannot depend on power supply from the national authorities if you want to have a thriving business. Hence, we have our power plant and generators in our factories, to meet up with our manufacturing demands," she said.

However, all has not been bad news. Through the establishment of an online platform which enables customers place their orders online, the company has been able to tap into the marketing opportunities provided by Nigeria e-commerce.

."The success of overcoming e-commerce has been very surprising because we thought people would not want to patronise that avenue due to the general fear of card related fraud activities," Okhai said.