Making a Fortune From Paint Production
There is no doubt that the beauty of a house lies in the quality of paint used for its finishing. House paints add value and beauty to both new and old buildings.
The Managing Director, Lanfo “Taiken Nigeria Limited, manufacturers of Evince Paints, Mr Babatunde Popoola, says house paints are of different types. These, according to him, includes emulsion, texture or textcote, flexcote and marble trowel paints etc.
Popoola says paints can be produced at a cottage, small, medium and large scale levels.
According to him, capital required to produce paint ranges from N200,000 to N500,000 for cottage level; N500,000 to N3m for small scale; N3m-N10m for medium scale and N10m and above for large scale level.
Popoola says one or two shops are required for cottage, half to two plots of land are required for small scale, six plots to one acre of land or more for medium and large scale level of production.
He explains that one or two employees are needed for cottage levels, five to 10 employees for small scale, 10 to 30 employees for medium scale while 30 and above may be required for large scale level of production.
Popoola, who also trains people on paint production, says that for efficient and effective management of paint business, some level of education is required because production involves measurement and calculations and the entrepreneur must be capable of managing the resources at his disposal prudently.
He lists raw materials used for paint production to include extender, pigment, solvent, binder and additives of different forms, which he says, can be sourced from the local market.
Some of the machines required for operations, according to him, include roller mill, sand mill and attrition.
He says that the manual roller mill which can be fabricated locally for between N15, 000 and N20, 000 with a production capacity of 60 and 100 gallons per day, is also needed.
He adds that electric manual mixing machine, which he says, has a production capacity of 300 gallons of paints per day costs N70, 000 and it is useful for small scale level of production.
Another paint manufacturer, Mr. Lawal Adebayo, the Managing Director of Amalux Paints Nigeria Limited, says that paint manufacturing is a profitable business in which the amount invested can easily be recouped in a shortest time.
He, however, notes that access to funds is the major constraint against the business expansion of the small scale producer, and appeals to the government to set up a microfinance scheme to support the small scale manufacturer.
Paint production processes involves the storage of raw materials, water measurement into the mixing machine tank, measurement of raw materials, steering, pouring of paints into the plastics, products storage and finally, sales.
He explains that pricing of paint products is dependent on demand.
He says, for instance, that producer’s price of emulsion paint is N400 and above per gallon in the market, depending on the quality and the brand name of the company.
Emulsion paints are packaged in plastics, mostly in four litres and 20 litres, while gloss paints are packaged in steel cans.
Popoola says that the cost of purchasing and printing a four-litre plastic is N95 and 20 litres is N380 while a four-litre steel package is between N220 and N260.
He says that due to late payment by distributors, a development which ties down capital, it is usually preferable for a producer to look for contracts. This can be achieved by supplying directly to those in the process of painting their buildings.
He lists some of the problems faced by the paint manufacturers as inadequate capital, frequent breakdown of machines, incompetent employees, lack of access to distribution channels, delay of payment by the distributors, lack of support from the government and high number of paint producers.
On the opportunities available in the industry, he says that the business is very profitable if there is availability of capital to invest in it and if properly managed.
By Sulaiman Adenekan