Business News
Is GoodLife Magik a threat to Tolaram’s impressive record?
Tolaram’s recently launched fruit drink ‘GoodLife Magik’, isn’t worth the fuss, considering the history of the company and fruit drink market in Nigeria.
Tolaram Group, one of the largest conglomerates in West Africa, recently launched its fruit drink, GoodLife Magik into the market, further diversifying the company’s portfolio – a move that now makes Tolaram a stakeholder in various markets that include noodles, pasta, and vegetable oil, among many others. However, looking at the history of the company and fruit drink market in Nigeria, the product might not be worth the buzz.
Despite the fanfare that ushered it in, this expansion into a new market is not exactly a ground-breaking feat for Tolaram, as it offers nothing new to consumers of fruit drinks.
Although GoodLife Magik is a drink produced for kids, it still doesn’t have any unique offering that separates it from competitors like Ribena and Happy Hour.
[READ MORE: Something Easy is here! Your Phone Number is Your Account Number!]
Tolaram’s grip on some segments of Nigeria’s fast-moving consumer goods market is visible, with its household brands ranging from Indomie to Hypo, Power oil, and many other consumer-driven edibles, but its GoodLife Magik brand is likely to struggle, as it goes into an already saturated market with nothing new to offer.
The herculean task ahead: Established companies are known to take advantage of their existing value to drive their new products. This has worked for many, but such luck is usually experienced in a market with relatively unpopular brands that lack nationwide distribution chains. That’s not the case for the fruit drink market.
The market is dominated by brands like Ribena, Happy Hour and Viju which are subsidiaries of household FCMG manufacturers as well. These companies have had the fruit drink market on lockdown for close to a decade or more, therefore penetrating it requires a unique idea.
Though the Group Managing Director of Tolaram, Harkishin Aswani, hopes for a success story, the company, however, risks experiencing a failed attempt at breaking even, as a successful disruption in a market like the fruit drink business will be at an astronomical cost. Though Tolaram is capable of funding it, the end result might not be worth it.
Why GoodLife Magik makes no difference: The brand seems to be old wine in a new bottle, as its health benefits are no different from those of existing products in the market. Nairametrics learnt that like all other competing brands, Tolaram’s new product hides under the umbrella of ‘healthy nutrition’ for the children, with other promises like ‘great taste’.
[READ MORE: NASCON targets increased market share via product innovation]
The GoodLife Magik brand comes in three variants: Orange, Watermelon and Mango, with key nutrients such as Vitamin-C and Glucose that improve immunity and give energy. All these are not enough to switch customer-loyalty among children or parents who in most cases do the buying and don’t consider product taglines.
Tolaram is no doubt a market disruptor, but the company’s ground-breaking history has been about offering something new or different from what the market is used to. That’s how the ‘Hypo go wipo‘ product was able to disrupt the bleach market and became a household brand.
Hypo came in an economic sachet pack at a period when competitors were busy flaunting plastic packages with premium prices. Hypo was cost-saving while maintaining its effectiveness. Also, the innovation behind the entry of Power Oil into the Nigerian market accelerated its acceptance among Nigerians. Power Oil was the first sachet oil to position itself among the lower-class, and this resulted in the brand’s growth.
Meanwhile, the company’s flagship, Indomie became an industry on its own, long before competitors began to creep into the noodles market.
However, Tolaram’s other products, such as Dano, that entered into the market the way GoodLife Magik did, have continued to play third fiddle to existing brands in the market.
Getting crumbs for great effort: While GoodLife Magik might not be able to disrupt the market, it has the marketing capability to compete for a fair market share, however little, but the story could end like that of Dano, another product to fill the shelf and not change the status quo.
While competitive pricing could have earned it a lion’s share, the market already has a fixed price which is N50 and going lower seems not to be a good business move for Tolaram, as it also fixed unit price for GoodLife Magik at N50. It’s a market that can’t easily be controlled by a newcomer despite Ribena selling for N70.
This means the saturated market doesn’t favour anyone, at least not the consumers, so GoodLife Magik‘s market entry is not a big deal.
[READ MORE: Samsung’s N712,000 foldable ‘Galaxy Fold’ can break without falling]
Tech News
Instagram disables its “Recent” feature
Instagram has announced it remove the “recent” tab from hashtag pages on a temporary basis.
Instagram disclosed that it would remove the “Recent” tab from its hashtag pages for people in the U.S.
The social networking and video sharing service stated this on its official Twitter handle. It said it is “doing this to reduce the real-time spread of potentially harmful content that could pop up around the election”
Starting today, for people in the U.S. we will temporarily remove the “Recent” tab from hashtag pages. We’re doing this to reduce the real-time spread of potentially harmful content that could pop up around the election.
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 29, 2020
What you should know
Nairametrics had reported on Instagram’s apology for its algorithm malfunction that led to the flagging of #EndSARS posts as fake.
Instagram has also taken the following measures to ensure a successful election
• The registration of 4.4 million votes this year through its flagship platform, Instagram and Messenger.
• Serving as a means of information and tool to people in the US on the electoral process
• The ban of any content that can cause destruction or war to the election.
(READ MORE:U.S dollar stable amid U.S holiday)
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, said he was perturbed about the high risk for civil unrest in the U.S. due to the upcoming presidential election.
“I’m worried that with our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or weeks to be finalized, there is a risk of civil unrest across the country,” Zuckerberg said.
Furthermore, he disclosed on a call while discussing Facebook’s third-quarter earnings, stating that, “Given this, companies like ours need to go well beyond what we’ve done before.”
Why this matters
The aim of the short-term decision is to decrease the spread of misinformation on the forthcoming U.S election.
ENDSARS
#EndSARS: Police did not shoot protesters – IGP Adamu
The IGP has said that police officers acted professionally and exercised commendable restraints during the #EndSARS protests.
The Inspector-General of Police, M.A Adamu, has said that officers of the Nigeria Police Force acted professionally and exercised commendable restraints during the protests, in a response to Amnesty International about police firing at protesters.
The IG disclosed this in a statement on Friday morning, saying reports on the shooting of protesters is not true.
ENDSARS PROTESTS: POLICE PERSONNEL WERE PROFESSIONAL AND EXERCISED MAXIMUM RESTRAINTS – IGP TELLS AMNESTY INT’L
•Says Report on Shooting of Protesters by the Police, Not True.The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has affirmed that
— Nigeria Police Force (@PoliceNG) October 30, 2020
What you should know
Amnesty International released a report on the 21st of October, 2020, saying it has confirmed “that the Nigerian army and police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters yesterday at two locations in Lagos. The killings took place in Lekki and Alausa, where thousands were protesting police brutality as part of the #EndSars movement.”
President Muhammadu Buhari also disclosed last week that 51 civilians, 11 Police officers, and 7 soldiers have been killed in the unrest.
The IGP said today that, “Officers of the Nigeria Police Force acted professionally, exercised commendable restraints and some paid the supreme price for peace during the recent protests and ensuing violence in some parts of the country.
“The Amnesty Int’l report is untrue, misleading, and contrary to all available empirical evidence.
“Even when the protests turned violent in some parts of the country, the officers still maintained utmost restraint and did not use excessive force in managing the situations.”
The IG added that 22 Police personnel were killed by hoodlums, with many more injured and that 205 police stations were attacked.
“Available reports show that twenty-two (22) police personnel were extra-judicially killed by some rampaging protesters and scores injured during the protests. Many of the injured personnel are in life-threatening conditions at the hospital.
“Two hundred and five (205) police stations and formations including other critical private and public infrastructure were also damaged by a section of the protesters,” he said.
The IG said Amnesty International failed to pay tribute to police officers who lost their lives in the violence and accused the organization of “discriminatory tendencies.”
Corporate Press Releases
LivingTrust Mortgage Bank posts N192 million in Q3 2020
The improved result was driven by an effective mix of revenue optimization and cost minimization strategies by the management and the Board of the company.
LivingTrust Mortgage Bank has announced its unaudited third-quarter 2020 financial results, which showed an impressive performance, as revenue went from N120 million in Q3 2019 to N192 million Q3 2020.
This information is contained in the LivingTrust Mortgage Bank unaudited third-quarter 2020 financial results.
The company reported an impressive leap in profits in the third quarter of 2020, as profit after tax increased from a meager N3.34 million in the third quarter of 2019 to an impressive N71.43 million in 2020; the company witnessed improvement in its operations, owing to an effective mix of revenue optimization and cost minimization strategies by the management and the board of the company.
READ: First Bank is cutting inefficiencies and focusing on its strengths
What you should know
- LivingTrust Mortgage Bank’s turnover was N191.72 million, compared to N120.20 million in the third quarter of 2019.
- The Mortgage Bank’s profit after tax was N71.43 million, compared to N3.34 million in the third quarter of 2019.
- The increase in profit after tax was largely driven by interest Income From Mortgage Loans And Advances
- To Customers, which increased from N119 million to 170 million.
- The total assets of the company increased from N4.6 billion as of the last day of business in 2019 to N5.3 billion as of 30 September 2020.
READ: Access, GTBank, two others pay PWC & EY N1.5 billion as Audit fees in H1 2020
Operational Review
Despite prevailing economic headwinds and the tight regulatory framework of the economy, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank continues to show sustained growth in key segments driven by strategic positioning of the business in Osun State.
LivingTrust Mortgage Bank is headquartered in Osun State where it operates from 3 branches with desk offices in Lagos, Akure and Abuja. The new strategies deployed by the management and the board of the company yielded huge gains for the company since the beginning of the year.
This is obvious in the improved performance of the company in Interest Income From Mortgage Loans And Advances To Customers, during the period.
READ: UPDATED: Nigeria’s GDP contracts by 6.10% in Q2 2020, as critical sectors plunge
What they are saying
In a note by the management of the company commenting on the result, it was stated that: “Living Trust Mortgage Bank Plc achieved this result under a new management, led by Adekunle Adewole as the Managing Director, which came on board in May, this year, and Alhaji Adebayo Jimoh-led board of directors.”
The bank which was hitherto known as Omoluabi Mortgage Bank Plc also rebranded and became known by its present name.
The bank further said, “Our recent achievement are fallouts of the strategies introduced by the new management, to ensure that the bank effectively discharges its commitments to its growing customer base.
“Our recent rebranding also contributed to our feat, as it became necessary for us to adopt an image which correctly reflects our current outlook and strategic focus.”
READ: C&I Leasing gets approval to list N539 million worth rights issue
The bank’s management was recently overhauled, while its board of directors was also reconstituted, following the acquisition of majority shareholding in it by Cititrust Holdings Plc.
According to the bank, with the increasing cultural diversity of its fast-growing customer base, it became necessary for it to adopt an image that correctly reflected its current outlook and strategic focus.
The bank added that the name change is also a reflection of its corporate transformation plan, which primarily aims at delivering superior quality products and services to all customers, regardless of their status or location.
READ: Devaluation: Nigeria’s current account deficit rises again
About Adewole Adekunle
The new MD, Mr. Adewole Adekunle, is a banking professional with over 2 decades of experience cutting across areas like retail, commercial, corporate banking, corporate strategies, and credit recoveries.
He served in various positions in Omega Bank (now Keystone Bank), Standard Trust Bank (now UBA), Broad bank (now Union bank), and Sterling Bank.
He has 2 MBAs in Marketing and Finance from the University of Ado-Ekiti and the Metropolitan School of Business and Management, UK. He also holds a Masters in Business Law and a certificate in Global Management (CGM). He is an Alumnus of Lagos Business School and INSEAD.
UACN Property Development Company Plc: Decrease in sale of property stock, others depletes revenue
Instagram disables its “Recent” feature
Portland Paints and Products Plc: Decrease in paint sales depletes revenues
#EndSARS: Police did not shoot protesters – IGP Adamu
Nigerian women need over 50% representation in government by 2023
COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
6 Cryptos rich investors are buying
Lagos sets up Graduate Internship Programme with a monthly stipend of N40,000 for youth beneficiaries
FG to invest in the deployment of Mini-grid systems to power 5 million homes in 2021
Desmond Elliot apologises for addressing the youths as “Children”
