The Lesson from EU and US On Protecting National Brands, The Case of Ovim Tablet

From LinkedIn News: “China has overtaken the U.S. for the first time to become the world’s No. 2 seller of EVs, behind No. 1, Japan. Not only did Chinese brands, led by cheaper BYD, sell more new vehicles last year — 13.4 million vs. 11.9 million for the U.S. — they made more money doing so, according to Jato Dynamics. U.S. sales growth of 9% dropped behind China’s 23% for one reason, the researcher said: consistently high prices charged by American manufacturers. Yet, even as China makes inroads to emerging markets, it faces steep new protectionist tariffs in the U.S. and EU.”

There is nothing like a FREE market system when it comes to the global arena. I hope Nigeria understands that, and builds necessary protections in our economy. I was among those who began the business of mobile tablets. But one by one, Nigeria opened the floodgate, and the Chinese brands took over. Ovim tablet was knocked out of business. Yes, Tecno took down Ovim tablet – the magical device for work and play, named after my village!

Sure, I am not asking anyone to protect our lesser innovative product. My point is that Nigeria did not care for the efforts we have put in place. I used two generators in Owerri, and we could not surmount the ferocious price competitiveness the Chinese brand enjoyed.

See here, the US and the EU are building iron gates to protect Tesla and others, from the blazing innovative rage of BYD and China. Yet, Harvard and Oxford are still teaching free markets, globalization and multinationalism in the market system. Good People, there are many Chinese brands in Nigeria; someone needs to be concerned how we open our ports for everything. Can we learn from the US and EU?

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (June 9 – Sept 6, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.