Dry cleaners devise plans to break into the $165 billion global market

According to the Fabric Professionals and Dry Cleaners Association of Nigeria, the $165 billion worldwide cleaning and hygiene market would be made known to over 25,000 dry cleaners through its conference, “Clean Show Africa 2024.”

The company made this announcement in a statement on Thursday during a press briefing to announce the upcoming conference, “Positioning Africa’s fabric and hygiene industry for excellence,” which is set to take place in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 28 and 29, 2024.

According to FPDA Chairman Enibikun Adebayo, Nigeria’s dry cleaning market was estimated to be worth $8.4 million in 2019 and was expected to expand at a rate of 6.4% over the next ten years.

“As of 2019, the statistics were clear, as Nigeria’s dry cleaning industry was valued at $8.4m and growing year-on-year at 6.4 per cent. Even the statistics are looking better than it was before. It is now left for us to reposition the industry to the global world because nobody is paying attention to this lucrative industry and this is what we want to address with the conference,” he said.

He, however, stated the need for collaboration in the industry, saying, “This is the dream behind this exhibition.”

“A year ago, we launched FPDA of Nigeria. We are also using the platform to educate our members to be better professionals,” Adebayo noted.

He continued by saying that the exhibition would also highlight women who work in the dry cleaning industry, pointing out that studies had shown that women run dry cleaning companies more successfully.

Ruth Okunnuga, the Managing Director of Wasche Paint Nigeria, expressed her opinion that the dry cleaning and laundry sector in Nigeria had not received the appropriate backing and recognition.

“This is why we have put together this event to feature all industry experts and have very pertinent discussions on how to create value that is needed to grow the industry. The industry has gone for so long without any proper structure, and it is not attracting as much investment as it should.

“We want to revolutionise the sector to make it attractive for investors and potential professional dry cleaners and stakeholders. The dry cleaning industry data is yet to be captured. There is a data loss and one of the objectives of this conference is to help us collect data for proper planning,” Okunnuga added.

Joseph Oru, the Managing Director of Zenith Exhibition, said that the association planned to use the conference to lobby the Federal Government to create professional training facilities for dry cleaners.