Dunlop Nigeria Plc has a very rich and enviable history. The company's origin is directly linked to John Boyd Dunlop, a Briton who invented the world's first practical pneumatic tyre in 1888. In 1889, a company was formed to develop the invention commercially. That company expanded rapidly internationally and spread its tentacles as far as Japan in 1909. Dunlop Nigeria Plc was established in 1961 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dunlop Group. The company traded with the name Dunlop Nigeria Industries limited before the name-change in line with the policy of indigenization. The company's primary business is manufacturing and sales/marketing of quality tyres. Dunlop Nigeria Plc is a publicly quoted company. Its shares are traded on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. In terms of its equity holding structure, a greater majority of 95% of the company's shares belong to several state governments, public companies and no fewer than 93,000 private Nigerian citizens. The company's commitment to finding better ways of doing business is reflected in its effort at sourcing local raw material inputs. This informed the strategy of backward integration which resulted in the acquisition of majority shareholding in PAMOl (Nigeria) Limited in 1991, thus offering Dunlop a safe-level guarantee of uninterrupted supply of the right quality natural rubber a major raw material in tyre manufacturing. Dunlop Nigeria Plc manufactures tyres range from car, van, light truck, to heavy duty truck tyres. In fact, the company is the only manufacturer of grader and agricultural tractor tyres in Nigeria. Dunlop tyres are readily available in all parts of the country and are highly affordable. Aside from being a colossus in its area of business, the Dunlop brand is an embodiment of quality. In recognition of Dunlop's commitment to culture of responsibility which, among other things, imposes a duty to guarantee a consistent supply of high quality and reliable products to its customers, the company has continued to win laurels for the attainment of requisite quality standards. For 15 consecutive years beginning from 1989, Dunlop won the NIS Certification Mark of Quality awarded by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) finally capping it with the SON ISO 9001:2000 quality assurance listing. The internationally recognized SON listing is an assurance that Dunlop tyres are manufactured using techniques and materials which ensure the highest level of quality. The ISO 9001 :2000 listing goes hand-in-hand with the E11 quality award which has been held by Dunlop for several years. The E11-Mark is the European community's symbol of tyre excellence and is awarded following rigorous inspections made by Britain's Department of Transport. Dunlop Nigeria Plc has recorded many firsts. The company pioneered the radial car tubeless tyres in West Africa; produce the first Crossply tyre (12D 22.5 G600) in tubeless in Nigerian market; the first to introduce the low aspect ratio car tyres in Nigeria; first Nigerian tyre company to hold the E.C.E 30 Certificate, an export requirement for car tyres to Europe; first manufacturing company in Africa (beside South Africa) to hold the ISO 9002 certification. Dunlop Nigeria Plc boasts of a highly trained, competent and well motivated workforce with shared dreams and common ideals. The company has a policy of training and retraining for its employees to position them for optimum performance. Indeed, the company has been able to overcome so many challenges over the years and its achievements in the areas of product development, quality assurance and value creation for its stakeholders attest to the fact that it is well prepared to offer solutions to future challenges.