Interview with Saikat Chowdhury
CO-FOUNDER and MANAGING DIRECTOR, NIVÉSAL
Lives in: Singapore
Every month, thousands of shipping containers arrive at African ports, filled with goods that Saikat Chowdhury believes should be made on the continent. Despite its vast natural resources, Africa contributes less than 2% to global manufacturing output. As the managing director of NivéSal, a Singapore-based engineering projects company, Chowdhury argues that this reliance on imports unnecessarily inflates prices for everyday citizens. He points out that the world’s poorest continent pays some of the highest prices for consumer goods and building materials.
In 2018, Chowdhury and his wife Mani founded NivéSal to take the complexity out of manufacturing projects for new entrepreneurs in Africa. The firm provides a ‘manufacturing-in-a-box’ solution, handling everything from equipment selection and installation to raw material procurement and staff training. The company generates revenue by taking a margin on the total project costs.
Before launching NivéSal, Chowdhury worked for a Singaporean trading house, sourcing finished goods in Asia for export to Africa. His extensive travel during this period gave him a ground-level understanding of the African market, allowing him to advise aspiring manufacturers on what products are likely to succeed.
The Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a boon for the business. Global supply chain disruptions and skyrocketing freight costs forced a strategic rethink, prompting more governments and entrepreneurs to look at local manufacturing instead of importing.
Chowdhury adds that the traditional trading model itself is under pressure. As the information gaps traders once relied on close, many are being compelled to consider starting their own manufacturing businesses.
Yet many African entrepreneurs remain daunted by the idea of manufacturing. Chowdhury argues they are held back by a misconception that the process is far more complex and expensive than it needs to be.
Most aspiring consumer goods manufacturers in Africa do not need extensive production lines. Since few local markets can absorb massive volumes, investing in such capacity is unnecessary. Facilities should instead be sized to fit the actual demand.
Nor do they need full automation. Pointing to the abundance of low-cost labour, Chowdhury says that manual work can be used for certain steps. He illustrates this with soap manufacturing: while he would automate the process up to the sealing of the bar to ensure quality, the packing into cartons would be done by hand.
“This method reduces the cost to a drastically different level, and products can still match the quality of any international product selling in the market,” he adds.
NivéSal was involved in one such soap project in Sudan. At the time, the government had introduced import duties on fully packaged soap. A major importer sought to avoid the higher tax by asking his European supplier to ship the soap and boxes separately, intending to package the product locally. The manufacturer, however, refused, citing concerns over brand integrity.
The importer then approached Chowdhury to ask how quickly a manufacturing facility for similar quality soaps could be established.
“I told him maybe five to six months,” the NivéSal managing director says.
When asked about the cost, Chowdhury estimated between $300,000 and $350,000. The importer paid the advance almost immediately to kickstart the project. NivéSal sourced equipment from China, raw materials from Indonesia and Malaysia, and packaging from Dubai.
“In six months, the soap was in the market,” he recalls.
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Two years ago, Chowdhury was approached by the owner of a transport company in Ghana. The businessman had no prior industrial experience but was eager to diversify into manufacturing. He had a budget capped at $300,000.
Chowdhury advised him to avoid food production. Not only is it technically complex due to safety regulations, but success relies on branding expertise that the client lacked. Instead, he directed him toward industrial products, specifically PVC pipes.
To validate the idea, he suggested the client research local market demand. Two weeks later, the businessman returned, convinced by the data.
They proceeded to set up a factory producing PVC and PPR pipes for electrical conduits, agriculture, sewage, and residential plumbing. NivéSal managed the entire setup, from sourcing and installing the equipment to connecting the business with raw material suppliers as well as training the local workers to operate the unit. Within six months, the plant was operational.
“He recovered his entire investment in three months,” Chowdhury notes. “And then he said, ‘What can I do next?’”
For the second phase, the budget had grown to $1 million. Chowdhury suggested stone plastic composite (SPC) flooring – a rigid vinyl product made primarily from limestone and PVC. It was a natural fit, given that the company was already working with PVC.
The client was instructed to research the retail price of these tiles in Ghana. He reported back that imported SPC tiles were selling for roughly $15 per square metre. Chowdhury encouraged him to proceed, saying that their local manufacturing cost would not exceed $4 per square metre.
Production of the SPC tiles began in June 2025. Chowdhury believes this is just the beginning, expecting the businessman to take on even larger manufacturing projects in the years to come.
NivéSal has also found success in Algeria, driven by the country’s push for renewable energy. The government aims to generate 15 gigawatts by 2035, mostly from solar, and mandates that roughly a third of the project components be locally sourced. This rule created a market for locally made steel structures used to mount panels at solar farms.
NivéSal sells the equipment to manufacture these structures to clients in Algeria. The machines, which the company produces itself in Vietnam, were originally designed for pre-engineered building components but have been upgraded for solar applications.
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The primary challenge for NivéSal to further grow its business in Africa, Chowdhury says, is simply awareness – making sure potential manufacturers know that its services exist. For the manufacturing ventures themselves, he says profitability is rarely the issue. Because imported products are sold at such high prices in Africa, local producers usually have a healthy margin to work with. The more significant challenge, he says, is large multinationals dominating the market, making it difficult for a small, new player to break in.
The concept of ‘Made in Africa’ is close to Chowdhury’s heart. In his previous career, he was focused purely on selling. However, he realised that many countries lag behind because they spend all their money on imports instead of developing local industries, which in turn creates employment.
He views manufacturing as an essential stepping stone for development. “In many African countries, a lot of things start from a job,” he says.
If people have an income, they send their children to school rather than to work. They also gain better access to healthcare. “The moment you have some money,” he adds, “a lot of social development takes place.”