Evans Brothers Limited

The History of Evans Brothers (Nigeria Publishers) Ltd.

The Beginning

The Evans story began in 1903 when two brothers - Robert and Edward Evans founded a company in their name. It was called Evans Brothers London. From a humble beginning in their residence at 118, Newgate Street, London began the success story which we all behold today. In their first year of operation, the company grossed a handsome total earning of 150 pounds!

Initially, they focused on the publication of teacher training journals and periodicals, notable among which were ‘The Education News of Scotland’, ‘Irish School Weekly’, ‘Woman Teachers World’, ‘The Word Master’, ‘The Music Teacher’, ‘Child Education’, ‘The School Mistress’ etc. These publications became the foremost resource material for teacher training at the time.

About the 1930s, the company moved into book publishing, with emphasis on children’s books. Great titles that came from the Evans stable included the Evans War Classics, Dam Busters, and the world acclaimed Enid Blyton series.

Early Interest in Nigeria

In 1945 the company, under Noel Evans (a second generation Evans) decided to venture outside of the United Kingdom. They hired a consultant to come out to Nigeria and research the book needs of the then British colony of Nigeria. That consultant was Dr. L.C. Larcombe. That trip led to his writing of the Larcombe’s Progressive Arithmetic (Lower, Middle and Upper Standard). The series became a household name primary education, dominating the primary arithmetic market in Nigeria in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Interestingly, the Larcombe’s series still remains a strong brand albeit in a substantially adapted form.

The success of the Larcombe publication and other early publications for Nigeria such as Civics for Self Government by J.R. Bunting led to the appointment of a resident representative in Nigeria to promote the interest of the company. The first Resident Representative appointed was Ove Stentort and he made the University town of Ibadan his base, one of the primary reasons why Ibadan remains the publishing capital of Nigeria. It was during his time that a property was acquired on Akinola Maja Street in Jericho, on which a residential building/contact point was erected. That property still stands today and serves as the company’s guest house! Other subsequent resident representatives who played roles in firmly entrenching Evans in Nigeria were Commander Moss and Reg Mackenzie.

Incorporation of the Nigerian Company

By the 60s, with education developing fast in Nigeria, Evans felt ready to move to the next level of expansion. The need was felt to embark on more targeted publishing and stronger marketing and distribution. A decision to set up a full fledged Nigerian company was taken and Evans Brothers(Nigeria Publishers) Limited was formed. The company was issued a certificate of incorporation on 6th December 1966, with business taking off in earnest early the following year. Mr Joop Berkhout was appointed its pioneer General Manager and subsequently, Managing Director.

The first board of directors of the company comprised His Highness Alhaji Zulu Gambari, Emir of Ilorin, Mrs. Titilola Sodeinde and Mr. Eyo Ita. These three served with Joop Berkhout under the chairmanship of Mr. John Leslie Browning who also doubled as the Chairman of the Evans London. He was a member of the Evans family,having married a Miss Evans. At its maiden board meeting held in Ibadan in Frebruary 1967, the board chose to follow the direction set out by the founding Evans brothers to focus on children’s educational publishing and the enhancement of teacher education.

Pioneer Management

The management of Joop Berkhout displayed unparallel energy, skill and push that immediately won the company admiration and acceptance in Nigeria. These early years witnessed unprecedented growth in the publishing industry owing to the entrance of Evans Nigeria into the industry with fresh vigour and vision. Competition became keener and product quality standards, higher. Being the catalyst of this positive change in the industry, Evans no doubt became the primary beneficiary of the growth and by 1971, the company had built and commissioned a new office and warehouse complex, which remains the headquarters of the company.

The phenomenal growth in the fortunes of the company required an expansion in the number of members of the board. Thus, the late Dr. Alvan Ikoku and Dr. Amiel Fagbulu were brought on board in 1971 and 1972 respectively.

The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree of 1972, also known as the indigenization decree brought about a major restructuring in the company. By this decree it became mandatory for a minimum of 40% of the equity of companies to be owned by Nigerians. Thus, Nigerians including the late Mr. Ola Odusote, Alhaji Zulu Gambari, Dr Rex Akpofure, Dr Magnus Adiele, Alhaji Shehu Malami, Dr. A. Fagbulu and Dr. S. J Cookey who by 1975 became the Chairman of the company bought 40% of the company’s shares.

The years between 1977 and 1980 saw Evans taking on full-fledged local publishing with the establishment of a Publishing Department which operated a bit more independently of the London company and Mr Dayo Ogunniyi (now Honourable Member House of Representatives) was appointed the first Publishing Manager.

Early in 1977, Mr. Layi Bolodeoku, who had earlier joined the company in 1973 as General Manger, was appointed Managing Director after he had served briefly as joint Managing Director with the incumbent, Joop Berkhout following his appointment as Marketing Director of Evans U.K. Mr. Bolodeoku served the company meritoriously for many years. To his credit, much of the company’s indigenous list was developed during his tenure. Particularly notable was the pioneering publication of a wholly indigenously written and produced nursery education series of 19 titles simultaneously.

The late 1980s up to the late 90s were a testy time for business and economic activities in Nigeria. The twin economic policy of austerity of the Shagari era and the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the subsequent military era had a telling effect on the Nigerian publishing industry. Battling under such harsh economic conditions, the industry had to evolve its strategies of survival in such inhospitable environment. Not surprisingly, Evans was particularly badly hit by severe operational challenges and the company all but baulked in this situation. The operations were severely restricted and it became increasingly difficult to meet certain financial obligations. This situation continued into the 90s and was compounded by the instability of much of that decade.

Evans Publishing Group

Evans Publishers Nigeria Ltd is in association with the Evans Publishing Group UK. This is the holding entity for Evans Brothers Publishers and its associated companies world-wide. The chairman is a well-known and accomplished Nigerian investor,the Otunba Adekunle Ojora,CON,OFR,JP. Sometime in the late 70s,the Evans family had sold Evans UK to the respected Lord Lever of Manchester.A few years later,he was to divest to an investment which Otunba Ojora represents. Otunba Ojora also chairs the board of the company in Nigeria.

The entrance of Otunba Adekunle Ojora into the board in 1983(first as member, then vice chairman and now chairman) injected new life and fresher thinking into the company. An accomplished entrepreneur, Otunba Ojora brought his wealth of experience to bear on the affairs of the company especially during the difficult years of the post Shagari era of economic difficulties and the subsequent Structural Adjustment policies of succeeding regimes. Other members of the board of the company are Gbenro Adegbola(Managing Director), Alhaji Sidi M. Yero,Adegboyega Ojora Esq, Stephen T. Pawley Esq(Managing Director Evans UK) and Brian Jones Esq(International Publishing Director).

Evans Today

In 2000, following the retirement of Mr. Bolodeoku, Mr. Gbenro Adegbola who was until then the General Manager (Publishing) was appointed Managing Director. A restructuring and turnaround programme was immediately initiated which within a short while showed signs of success and returned the company to the path of operational efficiency and profitability. The rapid recovery and continuous growth of the company has drawn considerable attention to it, leading to its present dominant position within the industry.

The Acquisition of Nelson Publishers

Having recovered spectacularly,Evans continues to expand to consolidate its position within the industry. In 2005, it concluded negotiations to acquire the ailing Nelson Publishers. This was only a logical move to the earlier takeover of Nelson UK’s Africa list by Evans UK a few years earlier.Nelson occupies a significant place in Nigerian publishing and cultural history,being the ground-breaking publisher of the famous D.O Fagunwa Yoruba magical realism novels,the first of which was released in 1948. It is hoped this strategic acquisition will win for Evans Publishing Group a bigger share of the Nigerian publishing market. Reorganization of Nelson commenced upon acquisition and is due to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2007.Nelson’s new focus will be literary and non-fiction,aside interest in the core areas of educational publishing.

Publishing in other Media

With growth in Information Technology and its increasing application in education all over the world, Evans has taken an interest in publishing in other media. In 2005, a small study was commissioned to research the readiness of the Nigerian market for electronically based instructional materials and the possibility of giving existing titles the electronic treatment. This led to the creation of a small unit within the company early in 2006 to implement some of the recommendations of the study. The unit decided first to develop the equivalent of the schools records package that currently exists as a pack of school diaries, report cards and continuous assessment records. Initially the thinking was to merely adapt the existing material electronically, but the advice of the unit managers was to develop new material from the scratch. It was later decided to combine this with an accounting software in an integrated package called The Integrated School Manager - a dedicated, robust computer software developed for running schools. It contains modules on accounting, human resource management, student records,scheduling etc. Testing of the final release version commenced in August 2006. The release is bound to revolutionize the way schools are run in Nigeria.

References

*site [http://www.evanspublishers.com "Evans Brothers (Nigeria Publishers)ltd"] .