By Steve Osuji
It's on Sunday. Yes, in two days' time: 16th November 2026, the Nigerian Breweries Plc will be exactly 80 years old, having been founded on November 16, 1946.That's going by available public records.
This column happened upon a recent interview by the managing director of NB Plc, Mr Thibuat Boidin who espoused the eminence and trajectories of the brewing giant in Nigeria in the last eight decades.
Eighty years means that NB is a pre-independent multinational that's much older than the sovereign. It also means that it didn't only survive Nigeria's gruesome civil war, it has ridden the storm with the fledgling country called Nigeria through all these years. Civilian governments, military juntas, oil boom, economic restructure, IMF, recession, resurgence of democratic rule (and misrule).
NB saw it all and still remains standing. Having enjoyed the boom times and rode the headwinds, it can only mean that it is built to last.
If NB were a man, it would be the picture of a bent and finely wrinkled Don Joan, defined by Google as a man who is charismatic, charming and often an unscrupulous seducer of women. But in this case, NB is in the business of enticing its customers with dozens of feel-good products and lifestyle brands.
MD, Boidin captured NB resilience better in a recent interview with THISDAY:
"For us, the fact that we pioneered this industry, helped shape it and have remained its leader after eight decades is something we are incredibly proud of... Over the years, we have seen companies come and go in response to various challenges, but Nigerian Breweries has remained committed to Nigeria...
So, for us, this anniversary is a celebration of 80 years of legacy and the beginning of the next chapter in our journey."
It is indeed remarkable that NB has survived - shall we say, Nigeria - over these years. Probably better than most of its contemporaries and peers.
As Boidin noted, "companies have come and gone." Nigeria once was the graveyard of multinationals, especially after the ill-advised indegenisation policy of the early '70s.
But NB rather bucked the ugly trend and blossomed, establishing massive plants and depots across the country. Apart from its premier plant and sprawling headquarters in Abebe Village, Iganmu, Lagos, the company built even larger facilities in Ibadan, Aba, Kaduna, Ota and Enugu, among over a dozen others across the country.
Many have made the alcohol argument and the attendant debilities and infirmities associated with it, but imbibing drinks other than water is an integral part of humanity that will always be with man till the end of time. Even if all the breweries on earth are de-legitimised and banished, man would make even more harmful and more intoxicating stuff to imbibe. Bootleg liquor would immediately fill the void!
It must be recognised that NB has impacted Nigeria's economy and human development in positive ways too numerous to recount.
First, it is one of the companies that provide quality and gainful employment. NB current has over 2000 direct employees. Hundreds of thousands more are indirect beneficiaries, including dealers, wholesale distributors, contractors, suppliers, retailers, transporters and farmers, in a long list of value chains. Not to mention corporate taxes over the years.
Brand origination, development and support is another value addition that's not quite in the open and obvious. NB has introduced dozens of products it has had to initiate, build, market and sell in the Nigerian environment from the scratch.
For instance, Star Lager Beer (1949) and Gulder (1970) are two natives of Nigeria. This means they are not foreign brands produced in the Heineken R & D laboratories in Holland and transplanted in Nigeria. They were conceived, in Nigeria and nurtured in her brewing plants.
These brands were not only local champions, they became favourite drinks across West Africa and beyond.
At its peak, Star Lager Beer became something of a national heritage of Nigeria. Great events were built around the brand; from Independence Day celebrations to sponsoring football teams and curating shows by international music celebrities.
Advertising and marketing communications grew in leaps and bounds piloted by the power of NB 's numerous brands.
The Silent Bloody Beer War ln Nigeria
Yes, NB has thrived in 80 years and it looks Rock solid, but it's actually not where it ought to be. In fact were it not still tied to the apron strings of its mother firm, Heineken N.V. in the Netherlands, it may have gone belly up in the last five years.
First, NB Plc is currently facing her most serious competition since Inception. AB InBev/SAB came to town and disrupted the brewing equation and market numbers in Nigeria.
It used to be a two-way competition between NB Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc. Two giant multinational brewers playing hide and seek with each other for about seven decades. The one being leader in beers and the other founded on stout and spirits. Each holding its market position and none was able to break into each other's sphere of influence.
This was the 'friendly fight' until Anheuser Bosch AB InBev/SAB came into the Nigerian picture.
The South African giant, Sabmiller came into the Nigerian market in 2009 picking off Pabod Breweries, in Port Harcourt. Note that NB Plc had blocked many previous attempts by foreign brewing giants to make entry into the huge Nigerian market. This time, Sabmiller came by stealth. It pinched a nondescript, dying Pabod and a few years later, it got a big fish in International Breweries Ilesha, perhaps the only surviving indigenous brewer, then Intafact Beverages, Onitsha, makers of Hero beer.
No sooner had Sabmiller settled than AB InBev made a historic acquisition of it in an international takeover to create the largest brewery conglomerate in the world. By this singular move which costs AB InBev about $107 billion in 2016, it's now the biggest brewing firm in the world controlling over 30% market share.
Upon the arrival of AB InBev into the Nigerian market, NB immediately became a small player in a market it had ruled for over seven decades. AB InBev would ruffle feathers first by building a $250 million factory in Sagamu. An investment that reportedly grazed $400 million eventually. The plant is said to be the second largest on the continent after South Africa.
Apart from its global brand, Budweiser (king of Beers), AB InBev remade two local stragglers into winning beer brands in Nigeria: Hero and Trophy. Since then, it has been trouble for NB Plc.
InBev seems to have adopted a more strategic approach to the Nigerian market. It built the Hero brand around the southeast markets of Nigeria. Hero is today regarded as the highest selling lager beer brand in Nigeria, capturing 20% of the beer market. Remember that the south has the highest per capita disposable income.
The brewing giant improved on Trophy lager which is the highest selling beer brand in Lagos and the southwest.
Though, NB still has about 59% of the overall beer market with Heineken, Life and Star, InBev has dug a dagger into its side and NB has started to haemorrhage already.
Further InBev is said to deploy over 90% of locally sourced raw materials for its brews. This spells massive backward integration and less dependence on expensive Forex.
How NBPlc Dropped The Ball And What Can Be Done
Within barely five years that AB InBev became fully settled, Nigerians started consuming Hero and Trophy the way little babies relish fresh breast milk. It was as if no other beers existed in Nigeria.
NB went into rapid regression. Its profits dropped, then stopped entirely. Probably for the first time in its history. A firm that was a cash cow in the money market began to suffer cash asphyxia. Overdrafts, commercial papers, private placements, all sorts of financial engineering combinations did not work. It was probably bailed out by its parent, Heineken N.V. NB has neither made profit nor paid dividends since 2022.
Today, its share price which used to be premium has halved (from an all-time high of about N140.00 to its current N70.00).
Of course the economy has been turbulent for a complacent firm with hardly any competition.
Though, in the face of it, NB may seem to have done well in Nigeria, it failed to prepare against rampant global beer feuds. Its initial response to foreign sharks was to block their forays into Nigeria, especially by SAB.
NB was quicker to block any attempts by a foreign firm to acquire a local factory than it was at reengineering its business model. It could neither sustain its top brands nor intentionally grow them into a global assets.
For instance, how on earth did Star Lager and Gulder brands become near-extinct before our eyes. To think that the firm has an immortal brand in Heineken. So it ought to understand the psychology and nature of a forever brand.
NB was also lackadaisical about backward integration for local sourcing of raw materials. At 80, NB ought to have built a fully integrated process that would have it exporting materials sourced locally. With foreign exchange markets now harmonised, companies not sourcing most raw materials at home are in for a long night.
Though NB is tentatively returning to profitability, in the not too long run, this matter may be settled by merger or outright acquisition - perhaps before NB makes the century mark.
In the final analysis, how would NB Plc respond to the current existential threat that is clear and present? Expect a battle royale from Heineken N.V. and AB InBev. It is a clash of titans between two global, immortal brands, Heineken and Budweiser.
...Steve Osuji was an editor at New Age, Guardian and ThisDay newspapers. He is a renowned columnist and member of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE). NNL.
