“We Are Very Competitive” says Palu Dhanani from Universal Corporation (UCL)

Palu Dhanani, Managing Director of Universal Corporation (UCL), talks about the company’s biggest success story, which is its pre-qualification by WHO Geneva.

“Our biggest success story is our pre-qualification by WHO Geneva. To achieve that as an African company is a big milestone. Very few companies in Africa have that certification. We are among the few who are indigenous, the rest of have had some support from other countries. Now, we have merged with an Indian company, but the start was all us. Although, it had its own challenges. Training our people and staff to that quality level was not an easy task, but it is much better now than what it was a few years ago. Today, people have recognized that there is quality that can be manufactured in Africa. There is a myth that we cannot be affordable in Africa, which is quite incorrect. We are very competitive compared to companies in India who have similar standards to ours. You cannot compare a company at different levels. If you do, we are more expensive. If you compare companies at our same level, we can be reasonably competitive”, says Palu Dhanani.