Daniel Ikechukwu,
Country Sales Manager, Forever Living Products Nigeria
Forever Nigeria will soon be up and running again. The new boss, Daniel Ikechukwu, a Biochemist, with intimidating credentials, is already testament to hard working Business Owners. Ikechukwu, the one time regional head at Abbott, was with Nestle Nigeria, then to Pfizer Nutrition and back again at Nestle, when the later acquired the former, and now in Forever Living Products Nigeria as Country Sales Manager. To many distributors and employees, he is reincarnation at Forever of Mr. Cornelius Olanrewaju Tay, the man who propelled Forever to enviable 3rd position in World Forever ranking.
In this interview, Ikechukwu says he would reposition Forever Nigeria ranking again, in the world map of Forever International.
Excerpts:
Your Lagos Success Day at Grandeur Ikeja, Lagos, was hot. Are you ready to shepherd this world renowned Health and Wealth Company in Nigeria?
First, let me use this medium to once again congratulate all our Forever Business Owners (FBOs) who were decorated during our just concluded Lagos Success day. Success days are set aside for us to recognize our FBOs and live our overarching commitment of making individuals and families look better and feel better. It is a celebration of courage, hard work, consistency, performance and above all greatness. What you saw was nothing compared to what we have packaged for our esteemed business owners. We will work hard and play hard as well. We will celebrate our people the way they ought to be celebrated because it’s all about them. Through these celebrations, we create and generate a positive growth mind set for our business in totality; hence all is translated into growth.
Your company has had its ups and downs. One could say it is really down at the moment. How do you intend to change things?
Generally speaking, the past few years have been very challenging for most import-dependent businesses in Nigeria. Every crisis however presents and creates opportunities for new possibilities. Downtime in businesses are only but part of a vicious business cycle. This period only calls for us to be more creative and seize the opportunities that the global economic meltdown presents and share our business opportunity to as many Nigerians as possible that are looking for genuine opportunities that can help them earn extra income.
At the last event, you said some 3,000 FBOs are going for an all-expenses paid trip. Where are they going and what for?
The month of October is synonymous with celebration within the Forever Family. It is a month that we host, globally, our most prestigious incentive – “Eagle Managers Retreat”. The qualification criteria for this retreat are well-known by all our Forever Business Owners. The qualifiers are tagged “Eagle Managers” which is an epitome of business excellence, consistency, leadership and team work. For 2017, our Eagles are going on a boat cruise across three cities. They are going to cruise from Barcelona (Spain), Monte Carlo (France) and Rome (Italy). This is an all-expenses paid incentive. A Royal Caribbean ship powered by Forever International will house over 3,000 dynamic and business-oriented FBOs as they, with fun, re-equip themselves with strategies to better grow their businesses. So, it’s an incentive, it’s a recognition and if you want to build a sustainable business with us, aim to be an “Eagle Manager”.
This is a top executive job by any standard. Where are you coming from?
Daniel has been around for a while now. I presently have over 18 years of experience which cuts across FMCG, Nutrition, Marketing, Sales, Network Marketing, Healthcare Management and Management. It all started from a laboratory experience at the Nigerian institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, where I spent one year and proceeded to a hospital in Ikoyi as a marketing executive. With my quest for more exposure, I was enrolled as an Independent Monitor for another year under the National Programme of Immunization (NPI) under the then leadership of Dr (Mrs.) Dere Awosika. Eager to have a multi-national experience, I joined Nestle Nigeria Plc., where I spent 5 years. Within this period, I developed the needed skills to manage an FMCG business; hence I made a move to Pfizer Nutrition. This move was short-lived, as just after 2 years, Pfizer Nutrition was acquired by Nestle which then necessitated my second missionary journey to Nestle Nigeria Plc. With one additional year, I moved to Abbott Nutrition as the regional head. At Abbott, I spent two years and here I am today. My network marketing experience spans over 5 years. All these, as you can see, was the reason why I said I have been around for a while and this puts me in a great position to understand and drive the growth of Forever Living Products Nigeria.
Quite an impressive resume. At the Lagos Success Day, it was not only in silent whispers, it suddenly became open talk by FBOs that with this Daniel, another Cornelius Tay has taken charge. Do you know the man?
Our business model requires a leadership style that is not just visionary and authentic but also charismatic in style. Our FBOs want a leader with a lot of charisma, energy and is ready to set the pace. These qualities they saw in Cornelius Tay and they in-turn crowned it with their support and work. I am not Cornelius Tay, I am Daniel Ikechukwu. And as Daniel, I will deliver the qualities and unique leadership style associated with Daniel. It might not be the same with what they are used to; it might even be better. The bottom line is that we want to be identified with success that posterity can relate with.
Forever Nigeria is a nationwide multi-level marketing business. How do you intend to reach out to every nook and cranny of this vast country?
Our business growth and expansion is highly confidential and is not what I would want to discuss for obvious reasons. However, our industry thrives on relationship marketing and we meet people every day as we go about our daily business, the sincere desire to go out of our comfort zone to build and nurture a lasting relationship with them irrespective of their sex, tribe and colour is key. A true understanding of this act of relationship building and an honest desire to help our people can break the hidden walls that exists among tribes and can serve as a template for us to reach every part of Nigeria irrespective of differences.
And how would you want to handle competition?
The direct selling model is fast becoming an acceptable distribution channel globally. This is basically due to the fact that it is a model that pays for performance. Therefore many companies are adopting this model, hence growth in competition. Irrespective of this, Forever Living Products is a house-hold name in Nigeria. Our name resonates with Network marketing in Nigeria. We value our products, our people and our company. So, for us, our strength lies in our reach (170 countries globally), quality of our products, our compensation plan and our Forever Business Owners. Again few months from now, Forever Living will be 40 years and in Nigeria we are 17 years. These are 17 years of customer satisfaction, belief in our products and reliability of our structure and understanding of the Nigerian market. Despite all these, our mind-set remains that of a “Start-Up” Most of what you see are only but pyramidal schemes that will come and go. Therefore to avoid stories that touch the heart, prospective business owners should conduct a due diligence before deciding on the company to join. For us to handle genuine competition, we must be two steps ahead. For me, when they are sleeping, we are awake, when they are planning, we are implementing. We will continue to create the gap between us and others as we lead in front.
There are big names already in the business here: the John Ekperigins, the Idigos. Are you on the same page with them?
I am FOREVER grateful to all our leaders for the immense work they have done within this 17 years of our existence in Nigeria. Our business model celebrates excellence. Therefore, the Idigos, Ekperigins, Attahs of this world we hold in high esteem. This is our legacy and we are forever proud. It is important here to note that as we celebrate and work with our existing leaders, our goal is to build more Idigos and Ekperigins in this business. Our focus is to build leaders that are recognised so that the voice of the business owners in Nigeria will be heard globally. This is our objective and what we want to achieve for our country.
Forever had been in the 3rd position in terms of sales in the world. Where are you placed and how can you handle this?
Global positioning for us might look very insignificant at this moment. However, I feel and see how passionate our employees and FBOs talk about the moment in history when FLP Nigeria was 3rd in our Forever Global ranking. For me, I love the passion. This passion we want to properly channel to increased energies in all our basic business strategies. With the later comes renewed commitment to do that which we have done before and are still passionate and capable of doing. If you look at the 170 countries, where Forever Living does business globally, look at their population, experience in our business and quality of their FBOs; I tell you this, we may not be there yet, but we belong to the top 5. And this is what we want and this will drive us.
Any advice for your FBOs?
To all our FBOs (active & inactive), I want to strongly say that this is the dawn of a new beginning. With a population of less than 140m Nigerians, we were 3rd in our global ranking. To all our very active FBOs, remember that our strength lies in our togetherness. We have one country, one FLP Nigeria and we are one team. Be assured of our unending support to help you create the Forever of your dream. To all our inactive FBOs, arise and let your Forever business shine. If you were asleep, wake up; reset your goals. Your vision can still be achieved through our Forever business model. Together, as one team, we will build a stronger, bigger, better and bolder Forever business in Nigeria.
