Obi Ezeude CEO Beloxxi Industries Ltd Nigeria Speaks On Biscuit Industry

Obi Ezeude is president/chief executive officer, Beloxxi Industries Limited located in Agbara Estate, Ogun State . Beloxxi, a biscuit and sweet manufacturing company, was commissioned last week by President Goodluck Jonathan. Obi Ezeude, who studied Banking and Finance, started business in 1994 as a trader and walked into manufacturing in 2003, less than nine years after trading. He spoke to SIAKA MOMOH, BusinessDay’s Industry Editor about his business.

Importation of cream cracker Ezeude, whom this writer met a day before his ultra-modern biscuit and sweet factory was commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday last week, was one of the largest importers of cream cracker in Nigeria, importing about 600 containers every year from Malaysia by the year 2000. Armed with this robust import business portfolio, he entered into discussion with his Malaysian suppliers to join him to set up shop in Nigeria but they backed out. Said he: “They told me one million reasons why they would not produce in Nigeria . And I decided to prove to them that manufacturing was not nuclear science.” The two parties kept on talking about it until March 3, 2003 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo banned importation of biscuit into Nigeria . And when Ezeude called them, they were shocked. They discussed smuggling with him, but he told them he wouldn’t do such thing. 

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Unilever To Procure Paper And Board Packaging From Sustainable Managed Forest

Paper and Board Packaging makes most of the secondary packaging in food  and bakery industry . Raw pulp   which is used as raw material for all paper products are sourced from  trees  thus  contributing to deforestation and in turn  impacting climate change . Addressing this concern Unilever has taken a bold initiative to source all its paper products from  sustainable managed forest or recycled  material. Hope all other major food  manufacturers  would  follow  example of Unilever in protecting environment through  sustainable  sourcing .


Unilever Policy towards sustainable paper and board sourcing

Press release .
The policy outlines the company’s ambitious goal to work with its suppliers to source 75 per cent of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or from recycled material by 2015, rising to 100 per cent by 2020.
The commitment makes Unilever the first global FMCG company to commit to sourcing all of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or recycled material within a clearly defined timeframe.

For the company’s requirements for paper from virgin sources, preference will be given to supplies delivered through the Forest Stewardship Council certification scheme. Unilever will also accept other national schemes under the framework of international Forest Management Certification standards, provided they comply with the Policy’s Implementation Guidelines.
The move means the logos of the acceptable forest management certification schemes will begin to appear on the packaging of Unilever’s portfolio of brands as progress is made towards reaching the target, and in order to increase consumer awareness and promote the expansion of certified forests in the world.
Marc Engel, Unilever’s Chief Procurement Officer, said: “As a leading consumer goods company, we buy considerable quantities of paper and board for packaging to ensure our products are protected and transported safely. As such it is important that we promote sustainable forestry practices and help combat deforestation and climate change through the responsible sourcing of these materials.
We are committed to working in partnership with all of our suppliers to progressively increase the proportion of paper and board packaging which comes from recycled materials, or sustainably managed forests, in order to achieve this ambitious target.

Source
www.Unilever.com