Soji Odedina, group managing director of First Katalyst Marketing, the agency which consulted for Vlisco in Nigeria has disclosed that textile printing company based in Helmond, the Netherlands at some point left the Nigeria market when their products were being counterfeited and sold at a very cheap rate in the country. Although there are reports that the company’s decision to relocate five years back was borne out of the clampdown on the alternative source of foreign exchange which the company claimed was legitimately supplying its dollar needs as the CBN supplies then was not enough. The CBN at the time deployed several measures to curb abuses in the foreign exchange market and unify the rates amid scarcity, more operators in the real sector then described the move as causing disruption in inventory supplies and production processes.
Sources close to the company said that beyond the CBN issues then, Vlisco fabrics were being counterfeited, which affected their sales at the time. Odedina said, “Anything the Chinese touches, if you are not careful, leaves your hands. I’ll give you one example, a company called Vlisco was making Wax Hollandais in Holland and bringing them to Nigeria.
“The Chinese started making copy materials. When a design comes from Holland, the Chinese will copy it and send it into the market and it will be 20 times cheaper than the original from Holland. Those guys have left Nigeria.
They were my client at the time. “That is why we are advocatin.