««| Investment Guide | Doing business in Imo | Industries | Investment Potentials | Incentives
The State is blessed with abundant natural resources. These include crude oil, lead, zinc, white clay, fine sand, limestone and natural gas in commercial quantities. Imo State has a number of mineral-based raw materials for industries.
Existing factory and crafts industries are classified into seven groups reflecting the types of major activities. These are:
- Manufacturing,
- Agriculture,
- Building and Construction,
- Mining and Quarrying,
- Water, Gas, Electricity,
- Services and
- Others.
There are a total of 11,607 industrial and business establishments in Imo State: 9,274 are in the services/business, 1,858 in the manufacturing sector, 416 in building and construction, 53 in agricultural activity, while three establishments each are in mining and quarrying as well as in water, gas and electricity.
Entrepreneur in the state need a great deal of support to enable them tool-up their factories and energize their productivity engines. In the good old days, the major state-owned industries in Imo included:
Standard Shoes Company, Owerri, which produced different types of footwear;
Clay Products, Ezinachi-Okigwe, which produced burnt bricks for all kinds of buildings;
Sack Hercules, Owerri, which assembled motor-cycles and bicycles;
Nsu tile Factory, Ehime-Mbano,
Imo Health Foods Limited, Ubakalo,
Adapalm Nigeria Limited,Ohaji-Egbema, a palm oil processing plant
Imo Modern Poultry Limited, Avutu-Obowo;
Modern Produce Inspection Laboratory, Owerri, and
Oguta Motels Limited, Oguta.
Some of these industries are still in operation but at much below world-class performance.
Industries under partnership included or still includes -
Fuason Industries, Owerri, which produces galvanized iron sheets, the
Afrik Enterprises, Awo-Omama, a pharmaceutical company,
Imo Concord Hotel, Owerri. Industries that had been partially privatized include
Card Packaged Industry, Orlu,
Resin Paints Limited, Aboh Mbaise and
Aluminium Extrusion Industry, Inyisi.
Industries in the private sector include
Sab Spare Parts and Allied Accessories, Okigwe, which make motor-spare parts,
Oma Pharmaceutical, Awomoma, which produces drugs and medicines,
Magil Industries, Atta, which makes steel, sponge, bread, polythene and paper.
