While many believe that the Nigerian economy which is experiencing a slow-paced of activities can only be turn around for the better through diversification of investment portfolio. However, Managing Director of Ibadan based printing firm – Triumph Concept, Mr. Afolabi has advised investors to only diversify into areas of business where they have competitive advantage.
Mr. Afolabi noted that though the Nigerian printing industry is hard hit by the current economic recession especially for the fact that virtually all input into print production are imported, he however advised that print business owners have different kinds of investment in their areas of strength emphasizing that; ‘honestly, this period is the best time to diversify. Lots of printers are going out of business because they no longer have the financial strength to maintain their businesses. This is simply because they have only one source of income. The problem does not only arise with the hike of print consumables but when your machine is faulty and you need to buy a part, then you realize you are in serious trouble but if you have another business, then you can divert funds to sustain the other one’.
He stressed further that; ‘I sell print materials and the same time I run a large format press. If business is not good with the material sales, I can uphold it with little funds from my press and vice versa. Likewise all printers should look for other avenue where they have competitive advantage that they can venture into so as to weather this economic storm’.
While urging the Federal Government to make the environment conducive for business owners especially the printers through regulation of foreign exchange, low tariffs on imported machineries and low taxes on print business, Afolabi believes diversification strives to smooth out risks in business by neutralizing negative performance of one to the other(s).
