FOUNDER CONVERSATIONS WITH BAMBARA
Bambara Trading Co. Limited is a unique and advantageous addition to the Mining Industry in Nigeria and the African continent.
Founded by Frank Hosea, a versatile and substantial industry leader in Mining and Commodity Trading, one with deep experiences across the Mineral Value Chain. Frank shares a deep passionate for base metals and the mining Industry, hence the strides achieved by ‘Bambara’ as a brand, from the phase of ideation to the stage of investments, comes really as no surprise to us as investors. It was a pleasant experience to sit with this founder for an insightful and enlightening interview session with the team at Zrosk Investment Management.
Enjoy this read.
About the Founder and CEO of Bambara Trading Co. Limited.
I am Frank Hosea, a 40-year-old mining expert and commodity trader from Nigeria. I like to consider myself a versatile business leader with substantial industry experience across multiple aspects of the Mineral Value Chain; Exploration, Mine development, Mine operations and Commodities trading.
I have worked in the industry for around 15 years starting my career as a physical commodities trader in mainland China before going on to work across multiple verticals in the industry. I am super passionate about base metals and the mining industry in general. I am hopeful that Africans will succeed in growing indigenous businesses that are truly World-Class in operational efficiency, while managing to remain local by staying close to the owners and the people of the land where we choose to work.
As an entrepreneur and a manager, my quest is for continuous learning and for growth. As an individual, it is to see Africa rise and to take its rightful seat on the table of global affairs. But, I’m not only about work, I have a burning passion for learning new cultures through travel, food, and ‘mingling’ with locals.
To effectively describe myself, I think the keywords I’ll choose would be; Multitalented, Experienced, Global-minded, Goal oriented, Result driven and Transformational.
The big Idea Behind Bambara.
Bambara is not a new idea.
It’s a compound effect of years of experience in the sector. Bambara’s aim is to become a leading commodity company focused on non-ferrous and new energy or battery metals such as Lithium, Copper, Zinc and Cobalt.
These metals are positioned as catalysts for cleaner energies in our not-too distant future.
The products are sourced responsibly ensuring origin traceability; our supply chain is constantly audited to ensure that ethical standards are applied throughout. As a result, we can guarantee the absence of child labour, discriminatory labour practices and the application of mining practices that minimize environmental degradation.
One of the biggest problems for factories around the globe is finding suppliers with reliable supply. Bambara is working on efficient trade volumes by taking advantage of our network of locally operated mineral buying centres, strategically located in key mining jurisdictions, as well as strategic mining partnerships throughout the sub-region, making us a reliable partner for long term material planning and product guarantee.
At the same time, we are developing a secondary vertical, “The Bambara Terminal”. This offers logistics solutions to both import and export customers with dedicated spaces for storage.
In the future, we will provide additional services such as: ore crushing, bagging, blending processing and container stuffing and delivery to port.
The Eureka Moment for Bambara.
Between the years 2007 and 2017, the mineral market experienced a major boom, with metal prices at their peak and opportunities for miners and traders throughout the sector.
I experienced that super cycle, and when COVID happened, leading to disruptions in the global supply chain starting with mine closures and the eventual fall of prices, due to a massive loss in demand.
I knew that recovery will provide a wave for companies who are able to ride the boom after the bust.
Choosing Partners and Teams.
We Look for excellent communicators who are well organized and self-disciplined. Preferably people with experience in the commodity space.
For Partners, we choose a Partner that can bring skills and experience to the business. Partners that share our Values, Vision and the Entrepreneurial Spirit. Partners that offer resources and credibility to our business. We choose Partners with good Personal and business ethics who share mutual respect.
Bambara’s Profit Model and Business Operations.
The company’s model is hinged on developing agile capabilities across the entire mineral value chain from exploration, mining, trading, export services and manufacturing.
Bambara’s exploration and mining division is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of Mining opportunities in Nigeria. The vision is to become a major base metal and natural resource company, creating long term development and profitability, for both the regional economies that we operate in and for our shareholders.
Whereas our Commodity trading and export services focuses on supplying base metal ores and concentrates from the West African sub region.
Since our launch, we have served industrial customers in global metals markets such as China, Germany and India with quality products that are delivered on time and according to each buyer’s unique specifications.
In addition, Bambara also fosters world-class commodity trading. Achieved by providing mineral producers and traders with streamlined access to dependable and effective end-to-end solutions for storage, ore processing and global delivery to overseas customers via ‘Onne port’.
The terminal is located along the Port Harcourt – Aba expressway, a strategic location less than 22Km away from Onne Port; Nigeria’s revamped gateway port positioned to strengthen global trading links with the nation’s export partners.
Building a resilient supply chain: Bambara’s Value grid framework.
Bambara is continuously growing, improving, leveraging, investing in and incorporating new capabilities into our supply chain. Therefore we are posed to evolve and to become a massive integrated supply chain which takes capabilities in exploration, mining, buying centers, export processing centers, and combines it with some of the management processes such as risk
management, storage and transportation, inventory management and control etc.
Bambara’s vision is to build robust businesses across the supply chain from upstream, where the company has mining assets and contract supply agreements with external suppliers to downstream, where we will leverage partnerships for co-manufacturing through joint ventures in Asia.
This comprehensive network will allow us to build diagonal values that helps the company to extract benefits from multiple businesses supporting each other by examining opportunities up and downstream from our own value chain.
Bambara has in effect adopted a value grid organizational model, which increases company benefit through reduced costs and lead times. Our high level of Vertical integration in the supply Chain, also allows us to enjoy opportunities for innovation, lower costs and better product quality. Generally, lesser operation disruptions because we are building a system with minimal reliance on external suppliers.
Scaling, Investments, Results and Challenges.
Bambara is in its early stages where we are developing our capabilities in the focus areas.
In 2020, we began this journey and accelerated investments in infrastructure. This enabled us efficiently offer products to our overseas customers. We also started to offer services to local exporters as well. We have extended our presence in several states, with the launch of 3 buying centers close to the Mining clusters in Nasarawa, Ebonyi and Bauchi/Plateau state.
Haven embarked on a mining partnership with a mining co-operative in Ebonyi state. We launched our export terminal in Port-Harcourt which would be upgraded to provide integrated services to exporters and importers.
In addition, we have successfully secured inventory and are on track to generate substantial revenue and profits for our shareholders.
There has been challenges with security in the mining areas. We also have some cash flow challenges due to inefficiencies in export processes. However, we are resilient and are constantly adapting strategies to mitigate against them.
Future Projections and Expectations for Bambara.
We expect to be one of West Africa’s leading producer and trader of metals in the new energy markets with a diverse range of standardized products that are sourced through a sustainable, ethical and professionally run supply chain network.
We approach this vision by focusing on 3 clear differentiators:
- Portfolio: To be a leader in base and battery metals. One that serves a global preference for sustainability, and minimizing carbon footprints differentiated strategies for mainstream bulk products. Uniquely shaped portfolio with selective integration across value chain to capture value unique African footprint & operating capabilities.
- Competitiveness: To have differentiated value-added solutions and services based on key industry trends (sustainability and digital). Ownership of a wide network of small-scale mines throughout Nigeria Leaders in sustainability, with ability to drive from source.
- Organizational capabilities: To hire the best global talents, developing an excellence culture and share learnings across teams. As well as attract a strong shareholder base with long-term orientation.
For more about Bambara Trading Co. Limited, explore their website by visiting: https://bambaratrading.com/