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What value has Corporateneeds.com add to the Nigerian economy since its debut in the market?

CorporateNeeds: A nation’s ability to generate a steady stream of businesses can only be successful when industrial growth and development is adequately supported and that is a major reason Corporateneeds.com has developed a solution that simplifies global procurement and logistics, a major step in reducing the cost of production for companies. In recent years, e-commerce has witnessed a significant growth and Corporateneeds.com is established to build a process that brings several industries in contact with trusted global suppliers across the world. From the point of purchase up to delivery, local manufacturers can leverage on our platform. Corporateneeds.com understands that time is crucial to every business growth and provides Nigerian business with delivery speed service via air and ocean, putting into consideration the importance of clearing goods at the port in as little as 6 business days.

Movement of logistics has been identified as a big challenge to businesses in Nigeria based on physical infrastructural development. How do you intend to change the tides?

CorporateNeeds: Well, remember that our focus is on reducing the logistics cost from foreign suppliers to local Nigerian manufacturers. Now, if other companies are taking 12 days, for example, to ship from the USA to Lagos and clear it out of the air ports, and corporateneeds.com takes just 6 or 7 days. We have already saved the Nigerian company 5 days in delivery time. Locally, we can’t do much about infrastructure as we can’t build new roads, but what we have done is to partner with a network of local delivery companies, so companies all over Nigeria have various options to choose from and also save in delivery time. So in all, while we can’t improve on infrastructure, by speeding up the process in other areas, we provide a faster over all service.

Companies doing business in the Northern part of Nigeria are far from the Ports in Lagos, Port Harcourt and others. How do you plan to reduce their cost of production?

CorporateNeeds: Delivery speed is a significant aspect of every business and our mandate basically is to reduce operational costs for companies. Group discount is the key, by combining shipments from various companies we have been able to beat down the price charged by our local distribution partners, and we pass these discounts to various companies in all parts of Nigeria, not just the north.

Transportation takes a crucial part in the manipulation of logistics. Corporateneeds.com has partnered with several logistics companies across the country that help transports raw material and other goods at an affordable rate to our clients across the country.

Eliminating middlemen in the procurement and logistic sector is not cheering news for some stakeholders in the industry. How do you plan to achieve that without friction with players in the sector?

CorporateNeeds: As global competition intensifies, procurement continues to grow in terms of its strategic importance to organisations. We don’t intend to eliminate middlemen, as our goal is to work with companies, contractors and businesses to save all companies whether construction or direct manufacturing companies up to 25% in the cost of production by giving them the opportunity to purchase goods and raw material abroad direct. We are providing a cheaper service for contractors and manufacturers to enable them to carry out their operations successfully, so, in the long run, everyone benefits from a lower logistics and procurement cost offered by corporateneeds.com. Our focus on supplier relationship management drives better engagement and collaboration with trusted global suppliers securing incremental value opportunities and assurance of supply in business critical and strategic categories. Based on our experience, we see that outsourcing procurement frequently leads to a dramatic improvement in operations and ROI.

Procurement experts have argued that 60 percent of corruption cases in the public sector come from procurement related matters. What innovations are you bringing to the table to help the government address corruption in procurement and logistics?

CorporateNeeds: Corporateneeds.com typically allows company manage its procurement more efficiently, through its procurement or logistics department, without having to rely on sub-contractors who add up exorbitant mark-ups that further increases the cost of production. Government agencies using the corprateneeds.com would have direct access to trusted global suppliers as well as being able to monitor every transaction without extra costs through their uniquely built virtual warehouse created on every client’s CorporateNeeds account. Just as we handle everything with speed on their behalf, from confirming the authenticity of suppliers or manufacturers in major countries like the USA, UK and China, negotiating for the best quality at far lower prices, filling export declaration (SED), export license, insurance, shipping, clearing and delivery.

What is your take on the current state of the economy as it affects businesses in Nigeria?

CorporateNeeds: We all know that we are facing the hardest times and probably at the bottom valley, but in the next few months we should be out of this situation; Nigerians should be more patient, but, I think the government has done the right thing, looking at the budget alone1.3 trillion is allocated to capital projects and once signed a lot of industries are going to pick up. Manufacturing is sure to rebound if they can address the issues of forex as Nigerians are now eager to buy made in Nigeria products. While it may look tough, there would certainly be progress once the budget picks up.

Is there any synergy between your company and government parastatals like the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in delivery of logistics across the country? Tell us more.

CorporateNeeds: None for now, but, it is in motion as we hope to start taking talking to them in the next couple of months.

Your business is information technology driven, what are the challenges using I.T to drive business in Nigeria?

CorporateNeeds: Things have really improved. For our kind of business, the major challenge is that most companies are still used to paper documentations of their jobs, so it is difficult to align with a platform like CorporateNeeds. Notwithstanding, we believe that companies will get to see the huge savings introduced by CorporateNeeds and will be eager to come do business with us. Basically, we see IT as being positive development corporate bodies as in the long run it lowers their overall production cost.