By Mustapha Usman, Kano
The Dangote Flour Mills has relaunched its pasta product called excellente in Kano State.
Speaking to journalists during the relaunch ceremony on Tuesday, the executive director Sales and Marketing of the Dangote Flour Mills, Halima Dangote, said the new product was improved, following complaints from consumers.
According to her, the company was prompted to improve on the quality of the pasta after series of complaints that the product was sticky and easily gets perished when cooked.
She added that after a painstaking research, the firm discovered that it needed an exotic durum to improve its quality to an international standard.
“We received series of complaints from our dealers that people were complaining about the quality of our pasta. They were saying it was sticky and not as enjoyable as the imported ones,” she said.
“This prompted us to conduct a research to find out why our products was not acceptable to the people. After 6 to 8 months of research, we discovered that we needed an exotic durum to improve its quality.”
She expressed optimism that the newly improved pasta would be acceptable and enjoyable to the consumers, adding that it would sell more than the previous one.
She further said the product would be exported to some African countries, saying Cameroon, Niger Republic and Ghana had already expressed interest for the product.
Ms Dangote also said the newly improved pasta would make people save money during economic crunch.
“You know a common man nowadays eats dinner from what he cooked during the lunch. So, this new product would last up to the dinner time if cooked during the lunch. So some money would be saved,” she explained.
She also said that the firm decided to choose Kano for unveiling the improved product because it has a lot of customers in the state, adding that Kano has the highest consumption of pasta.
In his remarks, the group chief executive officer, Dangote Flour Mills, Thabo Mase, said the product has been improved to the standard of those made abroad.
He said the pasta was made locally but has now been as qualitative as the exotic ones.
The ‘excellente’ came in macaroni and spaghetti and in four different types, namely standard, slim, cavatto and elbow.
