January 2014 Newsletter
First of all, and most importantly, Happy New Year to you all and to your families. May 2014 bring you great joy and great happiness and of course some prosperity!
Another year goes by for Promasidor. 2013 was a year of many challenges as the Link Newsletter has mentioned in previous editions. Violence has unsettled several of our markets and we have all read about the current issues in the Central African Republic and Somalia in particular. Our hearts and sympathies are with all those innocent families who are directly affected in these conflicts. But our thanks and our congratulations go to those Promasidor employees that in particular showed great resilience and courage to continue operating and selling Promasidor products in some challenging environments. It is pleasing to announce that this loyalty to the company helped Promasidor record double-digit growth once again in 2013, and that your plans for 2014 will mean double-digit growth continues. This success is despite milk powder prices increasing through 2013 by over 50%, prices driven by insatiable demand principally from China, and our customers unfortunately having to absorb a lot of this increase. So my thanks and congratulations to everyone at Promasidor for another successful year. And of course many thanks to our many customers who continue to recognise great value in our products and who therefore continue to support us.
We also look to 2014 with confidence. Africa is a continent full of people with great resilience, bravery and determination to achieve. Much is currently written about the potential of Africa and this combination of potential and desire to achieve means there is no doubt that these are exciting times for Africa. Promasidor certainly believes in Africa's future and we are continuing to invest in all our businesses. Some of the stories in this edition describe examples of Promasidor's growing investment. But, importantly, some of the stories also show we continue to invest in our customers through our CSR programmes, of which we are immensely proud, and we continue to invest in our brands, both established brands and new brands. I am very pleased to see us embracing the rapidly evolving digital world, as can be seen from our achievements in digital media highlighted in this edition in both Nigeria and Ghana. Digital media is clearly a marketing tool that will grow in importance in the years ahead and it is encouraging to see the natural entrepreneurial flair that always keeps Promasidor ahead of the competition, keeping us ahead of the competition in digital media too.
May I close by thanking everyone again for all their efforts in 2013 and may I wish you all the best in 2014. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible this year. If you see me walking around come up and say hello and tell me which article in the Link has inspired you most. Like Chris Froome the undisputed No 1 rider in the world, and the winner of the Tour De France in 2013, who was taught to ride by our Sossi spokesperson David Kinja in Kenya. With your continuing loyalty, efforts and drive, Promasidor can also be No 1 in the future. Get inspired and keep achieving!
Mark Rose