Amel Susan 2024: Nigeria's Top Manufacturer of Baking Ingredients and Breakfast Cereals!
Welcome to a captivating journey into the world of culinary excellence and entrepreneurial vision with Akan Peter Nsek, the dynamic CEO of Amel Susan. Renowned as Nigeria's foremost brand for baking ingredients and breakfast cereals, Amel Susan stands at the forefront of innovation and quality in the food and beverage industry. With a steadfast commitment to offering premium products, the company has become a household name, synonymous with trust and excellence. In this exclusive Delivery Rank’s interview, Akan Peter Nsek shares the inspiring story behind Amel Susan’s meteoric rise, shedding light on the passion and perseverance that drive their success. We delve into the company’s vision to become a major player in the indigenous food and beverage industry, championing the "Made in Nigeria" campaign and contributing to the nation's growth and development. Join us as we explore the challenges, triumphs, and future aspirations of a brand dedicated to bringing the best of Nigerian culinary heritage to the world.
AMEL International Services Ltd is dedicated to sustainable production and packaging. Can you share some of the key practices your company employs to ensure sustainability throughout your production processes?
Sustainability is integral to our production and packaging processes. We prioritize sustainable sourcing of all raw material inputs – Making sure that all supplier sites are inspected by our QC audit team prior to onboarding them as partners/suppliers. Our waste reduction strategies include lean manufacturing and comprehensive recycling programs where bye-products of one production process forms part of the input/raw material for another product/production process. Employee engagement, sustainability training, and community involvement further support our cultural initiatives, fostering a culture of transparency and continuous improvement.
As the CEO of AMEL Susan, what inspired you to focus on the baking and breakfast lines, and how do these products address the nutritional needs of urban Nigerians and the international community?
Actually, as a second-generation company, many of the products in our range were started by my late father’s company before I came in with my brother to take over from where he had left off. However, we did go through the internal process of sorting which products we wanted to continue with and which we needed to drop. At the time we took over, there were well over 12 different products, but a lot of them had consistency and quality issues which we didn’t want to associate with the new brand we were building. The goal is to produce high-quality products, using the very best quality of raw materials that meet the nutritional needs of our target market, based on their feedback. So ultimately we streamlined the range to just 7 products and in 2021, we added one more – A non-dairy creamer. By the end of the 1st quarter of 2025, we plan to add three more products to the range.
Your products, such as Icing Sugar and Pure Cocoa Drink, are NAFDAC certified. Can you explain the importance of this certification and how it impacts consumer trust and marketability?
When it comes to food, universally, there are strict rules that must be followed to ensure and guarantee the health and safety of the consumers. This is where NAFDAC comes in as far as Nigeria is concerned. We go through strict inspections and approval processes for every product that is produced from our facility – from the raw material sourcing to food handler’s testing to packaging material design and labeling. Without NAFDAC approval, we cannot sell or release any of our products to the market. This gives our dealers/Customers/end-users the confidence to buy any made-in-Nigeria product locally and abroad when they see it.
With plans to enter international markets within the next eighteen months, what are some of the key challenges and opportunities you foresee in this expansion?
One of the major challenges with entering a new market is finding a buyer at the right price. Due to the high cost of logistics, bargaining power is quite limited. However, with the quality of products that we have, that also gives us an edge over the competition. We engage in massive wet-sampling campaigns in a bid to get the targets to get a taste of the quality which ultimately justifies the price, at the end of the day. There are also a lot of emerging markets within Africa which we are also looking to explore and find collaborations. We are in talks with the government of a few of them to see what incentives they can offer small businesses like ours to come in and set up operations in their countries, which will ultimately cut off the logistical nightmare of shipping finished products from Nigeria to the country.
Looking ahead, what are your long-term visions for AMEL Susan, and how do you plan to continue supporting sustainable and healthy nutrition for both local and global markets?
Long term, we look to expand our range of high-quality, sustainable products that meet the ever-growing needs of our customers. Like I said, we are already in the process of adding three new products. We are also looking to expand our operational and market reach into other emerging African markets – Especially in West Africa. We all consume similar foods, so why do we start by feeding our neighbors before worrying about the Western world and Africans in the diaspora? For international markets like the US, Canada, Europe, the UK, etc, we are already in talks with a few buyers with our in-house export trade consultant. We already have our products in the US – In Houston, Texas and we are looking to spread that into other states and beyond.
To read more about Amel Susan, please visit https://www.amelsusanproducts.com/