West Africa Household Utilities Manufacturing Company ( Nig.) Ltd.
(WAHUM enamel plant) was established in Nigeria in 1961. In 1963, the plant started
manufacturing household utilities, mainly enamelware. The company now has registered
capital of 40 million NGN. The largest stock holder is WAHUM Group, which has 76% of
the company and the other 24% is owned by Nigerian investors. The purpose and goal of
this company is to manufacture high qualify enamelware, distribute cost effectively to Nigeria
and neighboring countries, provide better job opportunities for Nigerians, increase living
standards of Nigerians and provide reasonable profit for the stock holders”.
West Africa Household Utilities Mfg. CO. LTD. is located off Adeniyi Jones Avenue inside
of Ikeja Industrial zone, Lagos State. The plant occupies about 27,300 square meters.
The plant consists of 2 office buildings and 2 manufacturing zones. Manufacturing zones
mainly include 8 automatic furnaces, 1 equipment room, 1 pickling zone, 1 decorating room,
1 patterning zone and 2 warehouses. The plant can produce on average 4,200 tons of
casseroles and enamelware products in a month. The plant also consumes on average of
about 3,000 tons of cold rolled steel coils. The company is managed by the board of WAHUM,
employing about two thousand employees among which about 30 come from outside
of Nigeria. (pg1)
West Africa Household Utilities Mfg. Co. Ltd. is the largest manufacturer and provider of
enamelware in Nigeria. It mainly manufactures casserole and enamelware which includes
various products and sizes, such as Casserole, Rice pan, curry dish, wash basin, finger bowl,
round tray, beer mug, mixing pot and bowl, cooking pot, footed bowl, straight pot and pie
dish, etc…
The two different brands, Eagle brand and Empire brand, are well known not only in Nigeria
but also in neighboring countries. Products are sold in Nigeria including Lagos, Abuja,
JOS, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Kano, Ogun, etc.. and as far as Mali, Benin and some other countries.
The growth in sales in the past 5 years averages 9% with its net profit increasing an average
of 15% in the same period. To summarize, West Africa Household Utilities Mfg. co. ltd. is a
very strong and stable company in management, operation, sales and finance.
The future development strategy of the company will focus on strengthening management
by promoting more middle managers to important positions, upgrading equipment, better
product quality by using newer technology and process, developing new products and new
markets to maintain a competitive advantage in the ever changing market and fierce
competition.