Erisco Foods and the Costly Mistakes of Arrogant Business Executive – Frank Edima

There are so many business executives sitting in board rooms and offices who need to learn from the mistakes of Chief Eric Umeofia, the Founder and President of Erisco Foods. Brands, no matter what product or service they offer, must have a good public image and perception that will drive patronage and goodwill. I really would love to use simple terms as possible to explain further.

I watched, with pity, as the President of Erisco Foods Limited use his mouth, hands and muscles to damage a brand his team has labored to build over the years. Yes, his team. One thing most arrogant business executive do not know is that they do not own the brands they build. They are only vision bearers. The team they put together, and the customers or clients who are in love with their brands are the real owners. Without these two sets of people (employers and customers), no brand is built.

It was an interview on Arise TV, I watched him in his Ankara jacket and monochrome shirt, with no single representation of the brand, enraged as if to swallow up the presenter. His words were rather uncivilized with raging tones and threats. As I watched further, I asked myself a few questions, where are his team members? Who is his communications officer? Who manages his PR? Where is his media team?

To an extent, I answered for myself. There are many arrogant CEOs and Founder and President like Sir Eric, who do not value the professional contributions of their teams. I have worked with several of this kind. The boardroom is always heated. The decisions might be made for documentation purposes, but arrogant CEOs walk away with their half-baked plans.

For those of you who donot know the full story behind this article, read on.  

A lady called Chioma posted on her Facebook page how she tasted ‘too much sugar’ in the Erisco tomato paste she bought.  She said she had to go for this brand of tomato since she could not find the ones she was used to. Erisco Foods, instead of inviting her or planning good PR to cash out and grow huge customer base, decided to arrest Chioma, threatening her with the Police and eventually arresting her. Now as if that is not enough, he goes on air to threaten a N5billion suit against Chioma if she doesn’t apologise.

From a PR perspective, this brand, no, this President, this man, has just used his own hands to forge the biggest PR backlash on his own company. If care is not taken,  he may be facing a market boycott or a blacklist from social media netizens who are already coming after him, especially on X.

His arrogance did not allow him to hire a Public Relations Expert, or Brand Strategist, or Perception Manager, to handle the situation. He goes about granting live onterview himself. This is what a typical arrogant business executive does, a gross mistake that kills the image of a brand he did not build alone.

If a Brand PR Expert were involved, strategies would have been put in place such that, everybody would be buying Erisco to even taste the sugar. CEOs and Founders should learn to listen to PR and branding experts to avoid what is called “Founders Pitfall”. The Founders pitfall is the adamant egotism that comes with the realisation that – ‘I built this from the scratch and as such you can’t know my business more than me’. This leads to opaque arrogance, thick headedness and eventually stifles inclusion in decision making and enthroning a despotic mien in management.

Frank Edima is a Development Strategist and Public Relations Expert. She is the Founder and Director General of Bakassi Fish Festival. She writes from Abuja.