(4 minutes read)
· Nigeria’s hydro-alcoholic gel business, which is booming
riding on the back of high demand for sanitary products, such as
gels and facemasks
· World over, Covid-19 has created shortages for healthcare
products: for instance, countries like the US, China, Spain, Italy
etc are facing shortages of medicines and healthcare products and
equipment that are critical for treatment of the virus, including
ventilators
Amidst the generic slump in industry during t Covid -19 days, there
are some industries, which are bucking the trend. One among them is
Nigeria’s hydro-alcoholic gel business, which is booming riding on the
back of high demand for sanitary products, such as gels and
facemasks. There are a few startups, which sprouted during the time
taking cognizance of the high demand for healthcare products.
Dr. Stephanie Sodangi, is one among the persons, who have taken
advantage of the situation and started manufacturing these products.
There are many who are wanting to emulate her to break into the
surging sector to keep their bottom lines ticking during a difficult
time. Face mask and hand sanitizers have become hot commodities
especially in Nigeria’s commercial city of Lagos. Multiple pharmacies
in Lagos had hiked t prices of the commodities or reported having run
out of stock.
A number of citizens blamed pharmacies for increasing the prices of
these products, taking advantage of shortage of stocks while
pharmacists claim that stocks have run out because of a spike in
demand in the recent days. The pharmacists insist that the price
increase is on account of the mismatch between demand and supply. When
there is a sudden spurt in demand for a product or service, like
sanitizers and face masks now, prices tend to go north. However,
sources indicate that there are clear cut cases of hoarding to keep
the prices artificially high.
World over, Covid-19 has created shortages for healthcare products.
For instance, countries like the US, China, Spain, Italy etc are
facing shortages of medicines and healthcare products and equipment
that are critical for treatment of the virus, including ventilators.
Recently, many automobile companies have switched over to
manufacturing of these products either due to plod from their
governments or to take advantage of the emerging situation.
Production facilities for i-Phones, cosmetic goods, and chemicals are
now making surgical masks, hand sanitizer, and medical supplies etc.
This trend also can be seen in Africa particularly in Nigeria and
South Africa, where there are higher incidences of Covid-19 and
presence of a large number of startups.
