A Record in
Athens!
Success story
of Nigeria's best-
selling beer
The Athenian Brewery last year produced
one million hectolitres of beer - a record
never before achieved within one calendar
year at any brewery in Greece.
Pictured here with the ten millionth crate
is Mr. Daniel, Technical Manager, and
some of the brewery people during a small
ceremony to celebrate the event.
Star beer, produced by Nigerian
Breweries and Nigeria's best-selling
brand for nearly 20 years, celebrated its
30th birthday in 1979. Since it was first
brewed on June 2, Star has been
produced in steadily increasing quantities.
Before its introduction, Nigeria's most
popular drink had been palm wine, but
beer quickly became a national beverage.
A number of other products have been
gradually introduced by Nigerian
Breweries Ltd., which was founded in
1946 with joint holdings by Heineken
and United Africa Company (a Unilever
associate.) The company now also brews
Gulder Beer and Maltina, Nigeria's first
non-alcoholic malt beverage. Its
breweries at Aba, Lagos and Kaduna
have been steadily extended as Star's
increasing popularity has called for
greater production capacity. The
possibility of building a fourth brewery is
being studied. The original idea of
founding a brewery in Nigeria was that
of Sir Frank Samuel, Director of U. A.C.
It was conceived against the background
of rapid industrialisation in Nigeria and
throughout Africa generally in the years
immediately following World War II. At
that time investments were being made
by Nigerian and foreign investors and
new industries were rapidly springing up.
Nigeria was clearly on the threshold of
prosperity.
Bold decision
With their 1946 decision to found
Nigerian breweries, however, Heineken
and U.A.C. were embarking on a risky
enterprise. Imported brands had long
held exclusive in he Nigerian beer
market and apart from the matter of
introducing a new product to buyers
there were problems of transport and raw
materials supply. The history of Star beer
provides one of Nigeria's outstanding
succes stories. Today N.B.L. is
confident that the future holds even
greater promise for its main brand.
15
M. Jean Loubassa recently visited Heineken in
Holland.
M. Loubassa, head of the Finance Department at the
Brazzaville Brewery in the People's Republic of
Congo, arrived in Amsterdam following an eight-day
Paris seminar on finance, and was on his second visit
to Holland; he made calls at the Heineken head
office in Amsterdam and Zoeterwoude brewery
where he held consultations with members of the
various purchasing departments and renewed
acquaintance with other colleagues. Another high
lights of his visit was an Amsterdam canal boat trip.
Three years ago M. Loubassa made an extensive tour
of Heineken's home installations. He had then just
moved to the Finance Department of the Brazzaville
Brewery which he had joined in 1973.
M. Loubassa laid the foundations for a career in
finance when he studied for four years at the Ecole
Supérieure de Commerce et d' Administration
d'Enterprise in Marseilles, specializing in banking.
During his latest Amsterdam visit he spoke
enthusiastically to CONTACT of plans for future
extension of the Brazzaville Brewery. A Heineken
associate, the company takes its name from the
capital city in which it is based and is one of only two
breweries in the Republic. It has won a large share of
the local market with its bottled Primus beer.
Built in 1954, the brewery now employs 250 workers
and currently has a capacity of 300,000 hi.
The planned extension, M. Loubassa said, will
increase capacity to some 360,000 hi.
Heineken is expanding its activities in Japan.
The company's permanent delegate, Mr. D.S.
Enters is a frequent visitor to Heineken's Head
Office in Amsterdam to review plans. He is
pictured here (right) on one of his visits with Messrs.
A.G. Messing, Export Manager (left) and W.B.J
van der Breggen, Area Export Manager.
Mr. G. Netter, Heineken agent for 13 West African
countries is pictured here (centre) on a visit to
Amsterdam. With him are Messrs. R. van Duursen,
Export Manager (left) and E.A. van Weeren, Area
Export Manager.
The brewery at Lagos.
