A foremost investment company, Platform Capital is pleased to announce the ground-breaking ceremony of its Leather City Park (“Leather City”) and NIBRA Designs Limited (“NIBRA”) – a shoe production initiative in Ariara market, Aba, Abia state. The shoe factory will be the largest in sub-Saharan Africa, leveraging world-class Brazilian technology.

The NIBRA facility will launch with an initial capacity of 10,000 pairs a day, growing to 100,000 in 5 years. The project is scheduled to be commissioned by the fourth quarter of 2019 and NIBRA will employ 1,000 people for a start growing to over 5,000 in the medium term. Under secured offtake arrangements for 100% of our initial installed capacity, we will serve domestic and international markets. Leather City on the other hand, will provide opportunities to increase productivity and product quality for a significant number of the 120,000 individuals currently in Ariara market.

For private enterprises and SMEs, Leather City will offer infrastructure as a shared service and skills development training to the growing population of Nigerian entrepreneurs in the leather and related goods space.

This will form part of a broader strategy to leverage the National Leather Policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria and develop the local supply chain to reduce dependence on imports as we improve the perception of made in Nigeria products. “We at Platform view this as a transformational initiative for the state of Abia, the entire South-East region and is a testament to Nigeria’s tested entrepreneurial spirit,” the company said in a statement. They further expressed their sincere appreciation toHis Excellency, Executive Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, NIBRA’s chairperson – Dr. Wura Abiola, the MD of Abia state PPP – Mr Austin Ufomba; and the Nigeria Export Import Bank as a key stakeholder. This brand-new city will operate as a free trade zone on sustainable principles, and world class infrastructure.

This project according to the statement represents further validation of Platform Capital’s growth opportunities strategy, where we take a long-term view with a bottom-up approach to value creation.

Culled From: The Vanguard