British consumer goods company, Reckitt, has stated that it would soon have presence in Nigeria, confident that a turbulent economic climate that shook up the retail sector is beginning to turn the corner.

This is coming against the backdrop of some multinationals that have either scaled down, sold, or shuttered operations in the country because of the challenging economic environment, including Procter & Gamble and Diageo, that have deprioritized Nigeria to focus on markets deemed more profitable.

According to Akbar Ali Shah, Reckitt’s General Manager for sub-Saharan Africa, the Reckitt has navigated the turbulence and will make Nigeria even more central to its Africa strategy.

He said: “We’ve seen a lot more economic stability in the last one year than in the years before.”

Shah continued that the market-driven foreign exchange reform started by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given companies easier access to dollars from commercial banks, enabling Reckitt to repatriate profits from Nigeria in 2024 for the first time in years.

According to him, the company has “a carved out plan for the next five years” to expand its factory on the outskirts of Lagos, including adding new facilities to increase product volumes and exports to other markets in Africa.

Reckitt has enjoyed decades-long presence in Nigeria and many of its products -from its Dettol antiseptic to Strepsils lozenges – are household names that Nigerians associate with quality.

Shah added that Reckitt’s bet on Nigeria is anchored on reducing dependence on imported ingredients and, as a result, the constant need for dollars. According to him, 9 in 10 products it sells in Nigeria are now made in the country, following a years-long process of sourcing and vetting multiple local suppliers for raw and packaged materials.

He said Reckitt’s response to the galloping inflation in the country has been to resize inventory to smaller packs for the mass market, “sort of like a Nigeria-specific innovation”.

For instance, a toilet cleaner the company normally sold in plastic bottles is now available in sachets, embodying a so-called “sachetisation” shift that took off with manufacturers in the country after the pandemic.