Engr. Patrick Anegbe is managing director/CEO, International Distillers Ltd (IDL), a position in which he has played an outstanding role in driving innovation and growth in the company’s performance as well as the food and beverages segment of the Nigerian economy.
By the company’s records, IDL has witnessed a tremendous turnaround and grown at a faster pace in turnover, profitability and brand portfolio than any other period since the founding of the company.
Anegbe has combined specific company building with general industry and sector development programmes for enhanced stability and continuity of all the operators. His inclusive leadership style has impacted the entire sector positively, charting the course for survival and growth in defiance of the operating difficulties in the macro-economy.
The IDL boss effectively combines the role as chairman of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Sectoral group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) with the position of the president, Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers and chairman, Blenders and Distillers Association of Nigeria, a sub-sectoral group of MAN.
Anegbe is an astute and dogged achiever and a management expert, especially in the area of business turnaround, strategic corporate focus and product innovation. The leadership qualities paved the way for him to rise through the ranks in IDL to become its chief executive officer.
IDL are the producers and marketers of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages – an industry that has experienced major challenges in recent years but continues to maintain the path of operating stability in the midst of volatility.
The company produces top quality beverages from its distillery and bottling plant located on the Ota-Idiroko Road, Ota, Ogun State and markets its products across the West African sub- region. It employs a market-oriented network of highly mobile salesmen and executives that serve its various depots and an array of distributors spread all over the country.
From its headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos, IDL operates a decentralized structure of regional offices, which are complemented by 42 depot locations at the latest count.
Its products include Eagle Aromatic Schnapps, Chelsea London Dry Gin, Squadron Dark Rum, Bull London Dry Gin, Bull Dark Rum, Action Bitters and Confam Bitters. Others are DeROK Café Liqueur, DeROK Chocolate Flavoured Liqueur, Commodore Aromatic Schnapps, Chapeau Wine, Veleta Fruit Drink, Confam Bitters and Teezers.
The company’s strength in operations lies in its topnotch leadership and in a wide range of market leading brands. It boasts time tested leadership capability at its command in the business and in the industry.
The long existing distiller stated in its corporate profile that “this is a key factor to a success story which we intend to maintain”. It identifies the ability of its leadership to distill the right path to follow in the fast-changing consumer goods industry as the key factor to its success story.
Sustained development and expansion of a wide range of portfolio of successful brands is the second leg of the company’s operating strength for achieving stable growth. This, it says, has been achieved through a sound understanding of the wines and spirit market in Nigerian and the West African sub–region.
The company’s wide product range has grown from a single product line at its commencement of operations in Nigeria on a manual line in 1984. Also, locally produced products have taken the place of imported brands that initially complemented local brands, creating thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities in the country.
Through sustained expansion of operations, the company has continued to fulfill a vital role in its industry and the Nigerian economy, which are evidenced by strong gains in popularity, market acceptance and preference for its products by consumers.
