Mouka, Nigeria’s biggest mattress, pillow, and other bedding company, recently announced a change of ownership to Dolidol, the Francophone Africa market leader based in Morocco.
With this affiliation with a regional market leader, according to Mouka’s CEO, Mr Raymond Murphy, this deal sets the stage for larger and better things for the Mouka brand.
“In light of this new development, Dolidol, a Moroccan mattress industry leader, will contribute to Mouka important foam science, technical, and engineering experience.
“Dolidol’s expertise, as the market leader in Francophone Africa, will be used to help Mouka’s operations and product portfolio quality.” Murphy stated his opinion.
The Chief Operations Officer of Mouka, Mr Femi Fapohunda, also shared his excitement about this change in ownership. “With Dolidol’s stake in Mouka, our consumers and trade partners should look forward to new and ground-breaking innovations due to the technological expertise Dolidol brings onboard. In addition, from an operational point of view, we look forward to improved productivity and product quality that meet consumer needs and exceed their expectations.” Fapohunda said.
Dimeji Osingunwa, Mouka’s Chief Commercial Officer and lead strategist behind Mouka’s unrivalled distribution of approximately 2,000 branded outlets nationwide shared his views on this transaction. “I believe this strategic ownership will create additional investments in the expansion of the Mouka footprint within Nigeria and beyond our borders. I look forward to the synergy between the Mouka and Dolidol in deploying a world-class route to market strategy”. Dimeji said.
According to the Head of Human Resources of Mouka, Ifeoma, Okoruen, the new owners of Mouka had positively commented on the capability of the Mouka team. “They had nothing but positive comments and compliments to make about the team across all job grade levels. They have also shown keen interest in the growth and development of the Mouka staff,” Ifeoma said.
Our investigation of the basis for this transaction reveals that this was indeed a win-win situation for both parties. Dolidol and DPI also expressed excitement about the future of this transaction.
The CEO of Dolidol, Mohamed Lazaar, had this to say. “I believe the acquisition of Mouka will allow Dolidol to strengthen its presence in the continent and complement Mouka’s growth in the region with an addressable market of around 200 million Nigerians.”
Mr Walid Mougou also gave some additional insights into the strategic plans of Dolidol. According to him, Dolidol’s plans are centred around massive investment in Mouka, which will result in the development of the brand, people development, and the creation of more job opportunities.
Speaking on this, Ms Sofiane Lahmar, a Partner at Development Partners International (DPI), said, “As the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria shares many of the same trends as the rest of the continent, including positive demographics, a fast-growing middle class and rising consumer-spend. We remain confident in the future of the business and look forward to working with both management teams to execute the company’s ambitious strategy and vision,” she further explained.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
