Innocent Chukwuma: Most
Innovative entrepreneur 2013 on january 01, 2014 at 8:16 am
in special report By Judith Ufford Dr. Innocent Chukwuma,
Chairman of Innoson Vehicles
Manufacturing Co. Ltd, the first
indigenous vehicle
manufacturing plant in Nigeria
was born in 1961 in Umudim, Nnewi, Anambra. He is the last
of six children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Chukwuma Mojekwu of
Uru-Umudim Nnewi, Anambra
State. After his education, he
started trading in spare parts under the name Innoson
Nigeria Ltd in 1981. His
company is third after Leventis
and Boulos Enterprises in
assembling branded
motorcycles in the country. His business has
metamorphosed into four
manufacturing companies
namely: Innoson Nigeria
Limited Nnewi, manufacturers
of motorcycles, tri-cycles, spare parts and accessories; Innoson
Tech. & Industries Co. Ltd
Enugu, manufacturers of
Household and Industrial
Plastics, Health & Safety
accessories, Storage containers, Fixtures & Fittings,
Electrical components &
accessories; Innoson Vehicle
Manufacturing (IVM) Nnewi,
manufacturers of Capacity City
bus, Mini & Midi buses, Pick-Up trucks and Garbage Collecting
vehicles; General Tyres & Tubes
Co. Ltd Enugu, manufacturers
of Tyres and Tubes. The vehicles in IVM fleet range
from cars, trucks, SUVs,
compactors, etc . Presently, the
company has made in-road into
some African countries such as
Ghana, Sierra Leone, Chad, Niger, Togo. As the first indigenous motor
manufacturing company in
Nigeria, he says he wanted to
prove that Nigerians can do it.
This he says has been proved.
According to him, the inspiration to go into vehicle
manufacturing was drawn
from a desire to see Nigerians
drive new cars. “Nigeria has
become a dumping ground for
second hand cars. I know it was the high price of new
vehicles that made Nigerians
resort to patronising old
vehicles, but since we decided
to manufacture the vehicles
here, the price is affordable, and our people can drive new
vehicles again,” he told
Vanguard in a recent
interview. When the company began, no
one gave him a chance. He
recalled that not so many
believe it will work, but today,
” they can attest to the fact
that it’s working. People from other countries are coming to
copy what I did to replicate it
in their own country”. This story
success has ensured
employment for about 7,400
Nigerians who work in the company’s factory. For his efforts, he has been
made Deputy Chairman, Board
of Trustees, National Coalition
for Jonathan/Sambo
Presidency, November 2013;
The honorary Life Vice President of Nigerian
Association of Chambers of
Commerce, Industry, Mines &
Agriculture (NACCIMA) on
November 23, 2013;
Ambassador for Peace by St. Andrews Anglican Church,
Trans Ekulu, Enugu, April, 2012;
Entrepreneur of the Year by
Wesley University of Science
and Technology, Akure, Ondo
State, March 2012. He is also Most Outstanding
Indigenous Entrepreneur in the
Manufacturing Sector by Enugu
Chamber of Commerce,
Industry, Mines and Agriculture
(ECCIMA) in January 2012; National Council Member,
Manufacturers Association of
Nigeria. Conferred the National
Honour of the Officer of the
Federal Republic (OFR) on
November 2011 by His Excellency, President Goodluck
Jonathan; Awarded Doctorate
Degree in Business
Administration (DBA) by Enugu
State University of Science and
Technology, Enugu in November 2011 amongst several other
awards. Dr. Chukwuma who
loves playing tennis is married
to Ebele and they are blessed
with children.
www.vanguardngr.com

Part B.
During an earlier interview
with him, he recalls that : “I
started as a small business
man dealing on spare parts at
Nnewi. At that time, people
were bringing only second hand motorcycles to Nigeria,
and I felt there should be a way
to reduce the price of the new
ones, so that people will be
interested enough to buy new
ones, rather than the second hand motorcycles. “I travelled overseas and found
out that there were four
companies importing
motorcycles into Nigeria. First
was Leventis that was bringing
the Honda brand, the second company was Yamaco that was
bringing Yamaha, the other
company was Bolus that was
bringing Suzuki and the fourth
was CFAO that was bringing
moblet. “These were the companies
that were dealing on
motorcycle in Nigeria, and my
company was the next one. So
when I went there, I
discovered that when they brought the motorcycles in
crate and each crate contained
one motorcycle which took a
lot of space and you can put
about 40 units in one 40ft
container. In one container with 40 units of motorcycles in
a 40ft container, the
motorcycle will become
expensive. So after evaluating
it, I went to overseas and
packed 200 units in one 40ft container and my price came
down by 40%. Of course, this
was cheaper.” How was he able to pack 20
units into one container? His
response was simply ingenious: “Because of my experience in
spare parts, I knocked it down
and brought them here, and
arranged mechanics to
assemble them, to couple them
manually. The first five containers I brought in took
me about three months to sell.
I went back and brought
another ten containers which
took me about one month. I
went and brought twenty containers and it took one
week, and when I brought fifty
containers, people were now
paying in advance before they
landed. “There was a time I was
bringing 200 containers of
motorcycles every month and
spread them across Nigeria.
Because of that idea, my own
price was cheaper by 40%, before other people saw what I
was doing and followed suit.
That is why today, motorcycle
price crashed to N60, 000 from
a high price of N150, 000 in the
past. “It was in the course of doing
this that I discovered that
there are a lot of plastics in a
motorcycle, and that is one of
the reasons I set up a plastic
plant to produce the plastics components locally. These are
some of the things I did to
bring down the cost of
motorcycle to about N60,000.
Today, nobody thinks of buying
second hand motorcycle anymore in Nigeria. Everybody
wants to buy new one because
new one is cheap, and I am
going to do the same thing
with motor vehicles. “In the near future, you find
out that all these “Tokunbo”
vehicles in Nigeria will not
work out as people will prefer
the new ones. With the support
of Nigerians, we will see that we will be there. “Today, we are importing
engines; we are importing
certain components for motor
manufacturing, but after
sometimes, we will make them
here. With the support of Nigerians and the government
we will make everything here,
then Nigeria will be the first in
Africa to manufacture full
made in Nigeria vehicles.
According to Dr. Chukwuma, the vehicle factory was set up
for the entire African continent
and not Nigeria alone. Said he said: “In the near
future, I’m sure we will take
over the motor business in
Africa. This of course is with
the support of Nigerians.” To
this end, the federal government has directed all
MDAs to patronise locally made
vehicles and other goods.
Inspite of this good intention
and directive of the federal
government, Dr. Chukwuma observed that “sometimes
some ministries would prefer
Toyota or other brands that
they have used for 50 years.
They don’t want to try our
made-in-Nigeria brand. But the ministries that have taken the
bold step of using our products,
are happy they did”. The Innoson boss would boast
beating his chest that the
Innoson brand is comparable to
any in the world and that spare
parts are no problem.
“Presently, our manufacturing plant at Nnewi is built to
service the entire African
continent, and good enough we
have been meeting up with
market demands. Our strategy
is to plan futuristically, knowing that huge orders will
come, and as it stands today,
we are able to meet up with
the huge demands. We have
the manpower and modern
technology to cope with expected challenges.” Recently, at the Federal
Executive Council meeting, the
Minister of Trade and
Investment revealed that the
multinational Nissan company
has written that they want to partner with Innoson in vehicle
manufacturing in Nigeria.
While Dr. Chukwuma,
acknowledged this
development, he was not so
willing to let the cat out of the bag. According to him, I’m
aware that they have made
such move, and on our part, we
are ready to go into any
cooperation that will boost the
nation’s economy, and lead to increased productivity and
provision of jobs for our youths.

Man of vision. Keep it up.

plssssssssssssssssssssssss God let this work, atleast to prove to the west we create, plus it's the patriotic duty for all Nigerians, to support this. we must be onerous to this.

hmmmm...so nissan wants to partner innoson....i wonder in what capacity.

asha 80: hmmmm...so nissan wants to partner innoson....i wonder in what capacity.

I bet it was the federal govt that insisted Nissan works with INNOSON, if they wish to set up a plant in Nigeria.

ROSSIKE:

I bet it was the federal govt that insisted Nissan works with INNOSON, if they wish to set up a plant in Nigeria.

can the fg do that?i thought that this sort of partnership is strictly btw parties involved(nissan and innoson in question here)?

asha 80: can the fg do that?i thought that this sort of partnership is strictly btw parties involved(nissan and innoson in question here)?

Of course the FG can do that. The FG runs the national economy. Why would the FG that has been supporting INNOSON suddenly allow Nissan to come in and take over without receiving guarantees that INNOSON would partner them?

Am so inspired by this man's story.
Mind you many of his mates here on NL are blaming GEJ for their inability to pay their house rent.
Show me a man who blame government for all his life failures and I ll show u a shameless looser who was sleeping when his mates were hustling.

ojubi: Am so inspired by this man's story.
Mind you many of his mates here on NL are blaming GEJ for their inability to pay their house rent.
Show me a man who blame government for all his life failures and I ll show u a shameless looser who was sleeping when his mates were hustling.

mr man, the boldened doesn't really follow abeg!

What if the government hasn't provided policies that will promote the developement of development of indigenous production?

Where was innoson before last year, Or you wanna tell me he just started the car plant last year?

Very obvious the company just started thriving due to the help and some policies to be implemented by the government.

Tolexander: mr man, the boldened doesn't really follow abeg!

What if the government hasn't provided policies that will promote the developement of development of indigenous production?

Where was innoson before last year, Or you wanna tell me he just started the car plant last year?

before last year he was a multi millionaire. it'd shock you, he started that plant with bulk of his personal funds.
even subsidy thieves like otedola still take loans to import fuel, which they end up not importing in approved quantity.

revolt: [s]before last year he was a multi millionaire. it'd shock you, he started that plant with bulk of his personal funds.
even subsidy thieves like predicated still take loans to important fuel, which they end up not importing in approved quantity[/s].

What is he saying?

Tolexander:
What is he saying?

typo read it again

revolt: plssssssssssssssssssssssss God let this work, atleast to prove to the west we create, plus it's the patriotic duty for all Nigerians, to support this. we must be onerous to this.

revolt: typo read it again

that isn't the point bro!

Below lies the quote am particular about;

ojubi: Show me a man who blame
government for all his life
failures and I ll show u a
shameless looser who was
sleeping when his mates
were hustling.

before a man can be successful with a production of such magnitude in the developing world, there must be policies and interventions from the goverment.
Total absent of the policies and interventions will nearly cripple the production.

Just to tackle the quote that there are many hustlers that aren't sleeping but aren't given the chance to thrive due to the unfriendly policies.

alj harem:

by west I mean west ie Europeans and whites in general not Yoruba o. abeg o this is 2014.... lool what were you thinking sef?

ojubi: Am so inspired by this man's story.
Mind you many of his mates here on NL are blaming GEJ for their inability to pay their house rent.
Show me a man who blame government for all his life failures and I ll show u a shameless looser who was sleeping when his mates were hustling.

Well spoken.

Tolexander: mr man, the boldened doesn't really follow abeg!

What if the government hasn't provided policies that will promote the developement of development of indigenous production?

Where was innoson before last year, Or you wanna tell me he just started the car plant last year?

Very obvious the company just started thriving due to the help and some policies to be implemented by the government.

Stop talking nonsense. ''Govt provided policies''. So there is nothing you can create now or manufacture now without ''govt providing policies'' for you? Do you know you can go online right now and learn how to manufacture hundreds of different items in your HOUSE and start selling today? Nah..... much easier to blame government.

Tolexander:
that isn't the point bro!

Below lies the quote am particular about;
before a man can be successful with a production of such magnitude in the developing world, there must be a policies and interventions from the goverment.
Total absent of the policies and interventions will nearly cripple the production.

Just to tackle the quote that there are many hustlers that aren't sleeping but aren't given the chance to thrive due to the unfriendly policies.

if it was total as you claim, how come people still make relative successes here.
truth is anybody blaming govt is lazy, Nigeria has a rising inflow of fdi. the average youth is simply looking for employment or the ones that venture into sme are too avarice driven, as compared to quality and customer service. glorified 419ers.


pastor Sam adeyemi said something which I'll always hold on to for lifeless ' in starting a biz, your primary motive shouldn't be profit, it should be about solving a problem'"

how many people cobsider that here, all they do is focus on hyping and conning you to believe their services which are esatz.

revolt: by west I mean west ie Europeans and whites in general not Yoruba o. abeg o this is 2014.... lool what were you thinking sef?

I know, you meant the western nations Haba na how I bad reach Happy new year brother

ROSSIKE:

Stop talking nonsense. ''Govt provided policies''. So there is nothing you can create now or manufacture now without ''govt providing policies'' for you? Do you know you can go online right now and learn how to manufacture hundreds of different items in your HOUSE and start selling today? Nah..... much easier to blame government for your laziness.

stop being unreasonable though i know it is your congenital culture!

If you can't read to understand, call on the most literate in your state to explain to you.

The policies and help from government last year helped innoson. And how is that different from what you said? Imbecilic id1ot!

alj harem:

I know, you meant the western nations Haba na how I bad reach Happy new year brother

happy newyear too, looool. you may not know but there are some chronic bigots that'll rain napalms on me, so i gast clear the air o

revolt: before last year he was a multi millionaire. it'd shock you, he started that plant with bulk of his personal funds.
even subsidy thieves like otedola still take loans to import fuel, which they end up not importing in approved quantity.

No doubt Innoson is a great guy but he also had support from govt, particularly from the Bank of Industry and in terms of patronage.

revolt: if it was total as you claim, how come people still make relative successes here.
truth is anybody blaming govt is lazy, Nigeria has a rising inflow of fdi. the average youth is simply looking for employment or the ones that venture into sme are too avarice driven, as compared to quality and customer service. glorified 419ers.


pastor Sam adeyemi said something which I'll always hold on to for lifeless ' in starting a biz, your primary motive shouldn't be profit, it should be about solving a problem'"

how many people cobsider that here, all they do is focus on hyping and conning you to believe their services which are esatz.

the guy was total, not me!

I see another Nigerian joining other Nigerians amongst the richest blacks in the world

Hustlers anthem.. never give up.

This is one of the results of having 'a level playing field for all'; where the clandestine actions of vindictive hateful bigoted peeps operating behind the scenes to thwart the progress of others are neutralised! I remember some years back, another industrious individual wanted to develop a 'made in Nigeria' car and manufacturing plant, but his actions were frustrated and sabotaged at every step by individuals in the federal gov't of the time, and the dream was eventually stillborn!

Positive stories like the one of Innoson are the reason i support GEJ!

God bless you brother for bringing business to Igboland over 7 thousand jobs created, this is a great news, please make sure you are trating your employee's well. Make sure they are paid on time and fairly. We are do proud of Innoson Motors, and many more in 2014.

The Same Here

ojubi: Am so inspired by this man's story.
Mind you many of his mates here on NL are blaming GEJ for their inability to pay their house rent.
Show me a man who blame government for all his life failures and I ll show u a shameless looser who was sleeping when his mates were hustling.

You can say that again! You have said it all, I wish you the best in this promising YEAR!

The blessings of his ancestors rest well on his head. I have heard that his vehicles are expensive as newly-made cars abroad (I have not vetted this). Inspite of that I couldn't condemn him for the obvious ingeniuty involved in building a car assembly plant here. That's innovation and in all honesty, I hope to walk in his footsteps. Simple solutions like that of pure water is what I have in mind.