The management of Nutrifoods Ghana Limited, the biggest culinary and snacks manufacturing facility in Ghana, has called for the enactment of a law to protect product brands and encourage investment in innovation and creativity in the consumer market.
The company said that until there was a law to regulate unbridled brand imitation, copycats would lead to the proliferation of counterfeit products on the market.
That, it said, could undermine investments in product research and development.
“The biggest threat to every business is copycats of popular product brands by competitors, and until we have a law to stop such product imitation, the market will be characterised by unfair competition,” it said.
Working visit
Speaking during an engagement with the Employment, Labour Relation and Pensions Committee of Parliament at its biscuit factory in Tema last Friday, the Head of Innovations and Corporate Communications, Marian Sackeyfio, said, “We have invested heavily in market research and development to come out with product brands and colours that speak and align with the preference of consumers.”
“But a competition comes in just a few months and replicates all the same products, making the consumer confused at the point of sale, and this copycat is just too much,” she said.
The visit, led by the Chairperson of the Committee, Joseph Appiah Boateng, allowed the members to gain first-hand insight into the company’s operations, workforce policies, and contributions to national development.
Discussions focused on key areas, including employee health and safety, conflict management, remuneration and SSNIT contributions, as well as the company’s relationships with regulatory authorities.
Unfair competition
The Human Resource Lead for the company, Sonia Codjoe, also said most of the engineering team, who were the main brains behind the processing of the finished products of the company, were often poached by competitors.
The development, she said, enabled rival companies to easily replicate the company’s top-selling brands into other brands that confused consumers.
“These guys were our mixers and everything, but they get poached, and the story continues up to date.
“We bring in foreign experts to train them, but before you realise, your competitor takes them away, and this is our biggest threat,” Mrs Codjoe added.
The Human Resources Lead also expressed NutriFoods’ commitment to employee well-being, compliance with labour standards and adherence to national pension regulations.
“We are committed to promoting decent work, upholding the welfare of our employees, and maintaining full compliance with all employment, labour, and pension regulations.
“These efforts remain guided by the company’s core values of responsibility, transparency and consumer trust,” Mrs Codjoe said.
Local raw materials sourcing
The Production Manager of the company, Edward Obeng, also appealed to the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry to help offer the company more opportunities to source local raw materials for its production.
He said the ministry should create the opportunity to ensure equal competitive tenders for the sourcing of raw materials.
That, he said, would help the company to save money on warehouse storage of raw materials.
“We actually invest in big warehouses because the lead time for these raw materials is between two to three months,” he said.
He added that as a business that dealt in raw materials for production, the depreciation of the cedi had a direct impact on it.
He explained that the company imported 80 per cent of its raw materials yet sold 100 per cent of finished products in Ghana.
