The Coleman Cables Story

George Onafowokan is the Managing Director/CEO of Coleman Technical Industries Limited (Coleman), manufacturers of electrical wires and cables through years of hard work, integrity and tenacity have metamorphosed from a small manufacturing firm in Ikotun area of Lagos State to being Africa’s pride in cable and wire manufacturing in Africa with ultra-modern factories of 200,000 square meters both at Arepo and Sagamu factories, installed production capacity to process 60,000 metric tons of Copper and 40,000 metric tons of Aluminum per annum. In this interview with Peace Obi, Onafowokan said Coleman’s visibility in the nation’s oil and gas industry has greatly been aided by the NOGICD Act implementation in the sector.

Could you give us a peep into your background?

My name is George Olufowokomi, MD/ CEO Coleman Wires and Cables. I am the current Chairman of the Electrical and Electronic Sector of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN). I am an accountant by profession. I obtained a combined Bachelor degree in Accounting and Finance from Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester; Masters in Management and Information System

(Combined) from the University of Salford, UK.

I started my career with Packard Bell, UK as a Field Manager where I excelled in Sales and Marketing as well as in Customer Relations. I left Packard to PC World UK as Business Accounts Manager and later I joined Cem International UK Ltd as its pioneer Managing Director. In 2002, I left Uk to Nigeria to lead Coleman team in restructuring the company into becoming Africa’s pride in cable and wire

production.

Can you share a little of what Coleman’s beginning was like and the journey to its present state?

Actually, we are a company of humble beginning. We started off as a micro small company with one or two machines. And within the last 10 to 15 years, we grew to being the largest in the country. The beginning was very, very humble. It was a very small team, we literally existed

sometimes on day to day basis but we had a long term vision.

What did you bring on the table that brought the transformation in Coleman today?

Leadership is about focus, discipline and ability to develop both short and long term vision of the business and strictly follow your vision. Within my first

year, I proposed a ten-year vision for the company and by the seventh year, we had already achieved the biggest company in the country and in West Africa.

So, as long as there is a well-articulated vision, discipline, sustained character of integrity, a good team. For us at Coleman, we are very proud of our Nigerianess! We are very proud of our Nigerian team and we have groomed this team to become a world-class company and able to deliver world-class products and services.

In recent times, your presence in the

in the last two to three years. Also, apart from being visible, it has enabled us to start enjoying the benefit of oil and gas contracts or vendorship. In the last two years, NCDMB support has been tremendous and that is what has encouraged.

In recent times, we have worked with Shell in one of its community power projects. We have also worked with Agip on power project for installation. Presently, we are working on the refining project of the NLNG; we prequalified for some of their jobs. And we have also worked directly with NLNG on their projects.

Nigerian oil and gas industry has become pronounced, getting to this level, what was the journey like?

It has been a long process rooted in hard work, innovation and determination. We have been around the oil and gas industry for about eight years now. And we have remained committed to doing the best in what we do both here and elsewhere. But in the last two years, Coleman has witnessed improved recognition, acceptance amongst industry players, as well as active participation as an indigenous manufacturing firm in the oil and gas sector. It is gladdening to realize how much confidence the industry repose on us.

Today, Coleman Wire is highly regarded and trusted to possess the quality and capacity to handle various projects in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. And we can’t appreciate the management of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) under the leadership of Engr. Simbi Wabote enough for their support. Nigerian industries have seen a resurgent in participating more and having the feeling that they are now being recognized to be able to gain some share of the oil and gas industry. That is what has encouraged us to be visible in this industry

What areas in the oil and gas are your services or products needed?

Our products are mainly used by the contractors because technically, no job that can be done without cable. And whether it is in an FPSO which is a large scale project, or the fabrication of top-site, or in the installation of power projects, you need power in every sector of the economy. We supply the cables that run within the system. So, our products are needed for the completion of all modalities of the oil and gas projects.

What are some of the big projects Coleman Cable has participated in recent times? In recent times, we have worked with Shell in one of its community power projects. We have also worked with Agip on power project for installation. Presently, we are working on the refining project of the NLNG; we prequalified for some of their jobs. And we have also worked directly with NLNG on their projects. Just like I said earlier, we are facilitators of the power sector in the oil and gas. Our job is to make sure we produce cable locally for all their marine and subsea projects.

Coleman is renowned for its investment research and innovation leading to the accomplishment of many firsts, what is in the offing?

Currently, we are working on a project that is new to the local industry which is ESP submarine cables for the pumps. These are things you never would have thought could be made in Nigeria. So, we have quite a number of products that are first for Nigeria and first for West Africa. We will continue to lead and in some cases invest in areas where nobody wants to invest because it is just not seen as something that can be done locally.

What is the percentage of local content in your products?

The percentage of local content in our products grows continuously. We have gone from 80 to 85 per cent local content in our products due to backward integration in the last three years. Copper is now

INTERVIEW available, locally which accounts for 80 per cent of our product and it is still growing as about three additional manufacturers come on stream that will make us locally sufficient for copper. Aluminium is also coming up, it will be produced locally this year and that will improve local content to about 95 per cent. That has greatly changed the dynamics of cable production in Nigeria, which I would say started about more than 55 years ago. In fact, we are proud to say that the local content in our products is more than 80 per cent.

What are some of the firsts that stand you out here in Nigeria and Africa as a continent?

Since 2014, we opened the first high voltage factory in Nigeria which made Nigeria a pioneer manufacturer of XLPE high voltage cable which is also listed quite well on the NOGICD Act. Not only that, Nigeria became the sixth country in the continent to produce high voltage cable. Today, we are the pioneer manufacturers of data cable, CAT6 and instrumentation-shielded cables in-country. Also in West Africa, we are the pioneer manufacturers of COAXIAL TV/Video cable.

We have also completed plans to launch yet another first come next year with the production of rubber-insulated marine cable. There are quite a number of firsts for us and for the industry. The investment for those pioneering projects was quite heavy, making our entrance not so easy, but we eventually fought our way through this entrance and we have been able to deliver them in-country.

Without sentiment, are Coleman’s cables and wires truly superior to foreign ones? Without sentiment, yes, they are. The major reason is that the standards that are maintained in Nigeria are a lot higher. One of the reasons we stand out as a Nigerian cable company is that we are actually the only company in Nigeria that any Nigerian can beat his/her chest today and say that made in Nigeria wires and cables are better than the foreign ones. And our secret is that we will never deviate from the standards; we will never deviate from quality. Quality is our watchword.

So, you won’t hear such things like “fire gut my house and it was caused by the cables made by Coleman.” It has never happened and will not happen with Coleman Cables because ours of superior

quality, we also have fire retardancy in all our cable insulation.

We don’t deviate from the standard. If the stipulated standard in Nigeria says that the coil of cable should be 100 meters, you won’t find a Coleman cable that is even 99 meters. We can guarantee you that. So, we have the right volume, right capacity, the pricing is right and the team is right. Coleman is committed in leading cable and wire market in Africa and beyond. We got it right from the onset, and will forever beat every foreigner competing with us locally.

How affordable are your cables?

Our prices are very competitive and the best you can get in-country.

In keeping to standard, what is the highest certification you have attained?

Today, we are one of the first to with Certificate No 8 to upgrade within ISO with BV to upgrade our ISO quality

Today, we are one of the first to with Certificate No 8 to upgrade within ISO with BV to upgrade our ISO quality assurance standards on both our systems, on production and even on sales, we have upgraded to ISO 9001:2015 which is a very tough task because it takes you over a year processing and training to get this certification done and upgrade. We were previously in 9001:2008.

of local content. You must commend the team, the tenacity of the leadership of the team.

In this year’s NOGOF, we’ve seen a lot of opportunities literally glaring at us and for us at Coleman, we are strategically ready to tap into these opportunities. As a matter of fact, we never had it this way, especially the Compendium of Opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas produced by the NCDMB. There is no reason not to invest in Nigeria. These are things that were not done before. Just like the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu said, OTC is what everyone looked out for but today, we now have a Nigerian version of OTC (NOGOF). Whilst OTC presents opportunities for the world, it does not necessarily focus on Nigeria. But with NOGOF, we learn how to solve our problems, how to innovate, how to solve issues around finance and investment. This

(NOGOF) is for Nigeria and that is the difference! When it is Nigerian-led for the Nigerian people, we will get it right. We just need to stop being driven by this mentality that we cannot do better than the foreign tutors. A teacher can teach you, but it does not mean you cannot do better than your teacher in future. That is the difference; we should see what NCDMB is doing today in that light.

A word of advice for upcoming investors in this line of business

We encourage more businesses to remain determined. We encourage them to strive to make growth happen in Nigeria. We need it to happen so that the economy can see the benefit of it.

assurance standards on both our systems, on production and even on sales, we have upgraded to ISO 9001:2015 which is a very tough task because it takes you over a year processing and training to get this certification done and upgrade. We were previously in 9001:2008. We are still going to actually improve on that. The next one is the environmental one and that of the HSC one. We are attaining certification in our industry that differentiates us.

The 2019 NOGOF focused on maximizing opportunities in the oil and gas for the benefit of the people and the economy, how does Coleman hope achieve this?

NOGOF is a laudable event. NCDMB has always been pushing the barriers and the limits when it comes to achieving a higher level