Swiss food and drinks company Nestlé SA has expressed long-term commitment to and confidence in the sub-Saharan Africa, while also claiming that its recent staff adjustment only affected five countries in Equatorial Africa, involving less than one percent of its 11,000 workforce in the SSA.
It was recently reported that the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods player was cutting 15 percent of its workforce in 21 countries in Africa owing to an overestimation of growth of the middle-class in the continent.
But Wan Ling Martello, Nestlé executive vice president, Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa, said such a report might have given the wrong impression that the firm was pulling back from Africa, saying there would not have been any need for that, as the firm had been experiencing strong growth in both Central and West Africa, since the end of elections in Nigeria last April.
“Over the past 10 years, we have enjoyed strong, double-digit growth there,” Martello said, in a response.
“The South Africa Region was one of the Nestlé’s fastest-growing markets in the first quarter of this year, with double-digit growth. And we also remain optimistic about the medium-term prospects of our Equatorial Africa region,” he said.
He said the performance was the result of the firm’s significant investments across SSA over the past decade, which had been consistently above the group average.
He disclosed that earlier in the year, the diary maker had expanded its production facility in the Democratic Republic of Congo, stressing that further investments in the region were foreseen over the coming years. Calculations show that less than one percent of 11,000 work force means less than 110.
ODINAKA ANUDU
