Products, services must improve to meet consumers’ changing needs — OIC Boss

The Group Chairman of Odu’a Investment Company (OIC), Otunba Bimbo Ashiru has stressed the need for brand custodians and service providers to continually improve on their products and offerings to enable them meet the changing needs and demands of the present-day consumer.

Ashiru stated this, while delivering his Keynote Address, tagged: “Rebuilding Consumer Confidence: Addressing Policy Impact & Market Realities”, at the 12th Annual Conference of the Brands Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN), held in Lagos, recently.

The strategic management consultant noted that since the world is rapidly evolving, with consumers getting more sophisticated in their demands and tastes, brands desirous of relevance in such market space must constantly deploy strategies that would enable them to take of those consumers.

According to him, global economic realities, especially the high inflationary environment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the immense strain it put on the global supply chain, inflation and technology, have driven the way consumers interact with the economy.

The two-time commissioner for Commerce and Industry, in Ogun State, also charged Nigerians to make the most out of every ‘bad’ situation, in order to surmount the present economic situation in the country.

He advised Nigerians to undertake a holistic assessment of the situation and see the kind of changes to make to improve, not only their economic status but also the nation’s economy.

He, however, also called on the government to always come up with policies that would promote the growth of the local economy, and serve as a factor for growth and economic stability.

Ashiru also stressed the need for the government to come up with strategies and policies that would improve FX stability, price stability, growth, and see to the emergence of a robust middle class.

In her opening remarks, the immediate past Chairman of BJAN, Clara Okoro explained that the theme of the conference was not designed to apportion blame, but to bring out some of the challenges, resulting from government policies, and proffer solutions to solving them.

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