Onome Amuge
Eleganza Industries Limited, one of Nigeria’s most recognisable indigenous manufacturing groups, is embarking on a large-scale distribution overhaul and partnership expansion that could reshape access to homegrown consumer goods across the country, as operators in the sector respond to rising import costs, supply-chain disruptions and the persistent volatility of the naira.
The company, founded in 1978 and long celebrated for its wide range of household products, is repositioning its business around a more aggressive market-expansion strategy designed to bring its products closer to consumers while offering new entry points for distributors, retailers and contract-manufacturing clients.
Speaking on the company’s renewed focus, Managing Director Folashade Okoya said Eleganza’s long-standing strength has been its commitment to production excellence, a philosophy shaped by its Chairman and founder, Alhaji Razak Okoya, whose vision for a local industrial ecosystem remains central to the brand’s identity.
“The reason Eleganza has always been a household name is because its primary focus historically has been on production excellence rather than market presence. Our Chairman prioritises product development and refinement. With all the items we manufacture locally, Eleganza is the only company doing this at such scale in Nigeria,” she said.
According to her, Eleganza’s renewed strategy is not an attempt to reinvent the brand but to unlock the full value of manufacturing investments made quietly over many years. “Our products are affordable, and we don’t compromise on quality. Now we are ensuring that the full breadth of what we produce is accessible to more customers and retailers nationwide,” she said.
Nigeria’s consumer-goods manufacturing sector has faced ten difficult years marked by supply disruptions, high diesel and logistics costs, and shrinking consumer purchasing power. These pressures have created a market in which locally made products frequently struggle to compete with cheaper imports, despite the volatility of the exchange rate. Yet for a company like Eleganza, which already operates at a large production scale, the challenge is less about manufacturing capacity and more about getting its products into the hands of consumers.
The company’s current strategy focuses on tackling this long-recognised bottleneck by building structured distribution networks that can deliver nationwide reach, from Lagos to the most remote towns.
The company is now opening its doors to qualified distributors, retail partners and regional dealers who can guarantee consistent market presence, supported by strong supply, competitive margins, and the backing of one of Nigeria’s most recognisable brands.
“We are making Eleganza’s modern portfolio easier to find, easier to stock, and easier to build businesses around,” Okoya said.
This includes over 21 new product lines, from personal care goods to household items, all produced locally at Eleganza’s facilities.
Driving the company’s new direction is the manufacturing philosophy established by its founder. Razak Okoya has consistently maintained that Nigeria can develop clusters of mini-industrial cities that create large-scale employment and produce globally competitive goods using local labour and locally sourced materials. Eleganza’s expansive 35-hectare Industrial City in Lekki, home to advanced machinery and more than 3,000 workers, stands as the clearest expression of that vision
For years, the company expanded steadily but quietly, introducing new production lines while operating under policy instability and infrastructure challenges that have forced many Nigerian manufacturers to shut down.
Eleganza is also positioning itself as a major contract-manufacturing hub, offering production infrastructure to both local and international brands.
This has significant implications for the FMCG, personal care, and packaging industries, which have faced rising barriers to importing finished goods due to forex scarcity and exchange-rate fluctuations.
Eleganza’s contract-manufacturing capacity covers a wide range of products, including plastic household items, commercial chairs and tables, school furniture, diapers and sanitary pads, soap and personal care products, baby care items, luggage and travel accessories, coolers, food warmers and airtight containers, various packaging products such as bottles and tanks, as well as reusable takeaway containers and tableware.
For brands needing scale without building capital-intensive factories, Eleganza is positioning itself as a turnkey alternative. Industry analysts say the company could benefit from a global trend where multinationals deepen local sourcing to reduce supply-chain risk and currency exposure.
Creating opportunities for Nigeria’s next wave of entrepreneurs
A major element of Eleganza’s expansion is the creation of structured commercial opportunities for distributors, traders, SMEs and sales partners, many of whom have historically depended on imported goods.
The company says the new distribution network will provide steady supply from local production, strong margins due to lower import exposure, nationwide marketing support, a trusted brand backed by decades of consumer loyalty, and dedicated sales representatives across all 36 states.
Eleganza is also inviting entrepreneurs to lease showrooms and retail outlets for branded regional sales points, a structure common in Asian manufacturing hubs but rare in Nigeria’s consumer-goods sector.
Management says this model is designed to support economically active Nigerians who want to build sustainable businesses around trusted, homegrown goods.
