As the United States tightens its trade policy under President Donald Trump, cautious optimism is rippling through the nation’s industrial base. For companies that have long insisted on making their products in America, the renewed focus on domestic manufacturing feels like vindication — albeit tempered by uncertainty.

Ric Cabot, CEO of Vermont-based sock manufacturer Darn Tough, is one such executive. His company, which has earned national attention for its high-performance socks backed by a lifetime guarantee, has spent years doing what many others abandoned: manufacturing entirely in the U.S.

“For the first time, and hopefully not for the last time, domestic manufacturing is in a good spot,” Cabot said in an interview with Business Insider. “But you gotta commit. You gotta commit to making it here. It isn’t easy. Nobody outsources anything for quality.”

That last line is more than a quip. It underscores a fundamental belief among domestic producers: offshoring may cut costs, but quality and control suffer in the process. With the Trump administration’s tariff-heavy trade strategy, companies like Darn Tough may finally have the market conditions to prove that point, even if they remain wary of the pace and unpredictability of the White House’s approach.

Tariffs and Their Double-Edged Sword

Under the Trump administration’s evolving trade agenda, tariffs are being wielded as tools to encourage reshoring — or the return of manufacturing to U.S. soil. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said as much in a February interview, calling tariffs “a means to an end” aimed at restoring the country’s industrial might.

But for business leaders, the end may be clear, yet the means remain fraught.

“It’s not like we could just flip a switch, write a check, and turn on all that capability the next day,” said Bill Banta, CEO of Decked, an Idaho-based truck storage system maker that manufactures its products in Ohio and Utah. “Multimillion-dollar capital investments don’t work on short timelines — especially not with tariff threats looming.”

Banta, whose company has gradually built its own injection-molding machines and robotic welding infrastructure, acknowledged that the current moment is favorable for firms like his. Still, he warned that a poorly coordinated tariff policy could backfire, particularly if the cost of imported manufacturing equipment rises.

“It’s really hard to make long-term investments if you don’t know whether you’ll be hit with significant tariffs by the time that equipment lands in a U.S. port,” he said.

Darn Tough faces similar challenges. While its wool is sourced domestically and all production happens in Vermont, the specialized machines it uses to knit socks come from Italy. That means even companies committed to U.S. manufacturing are not immune from the fallout of global trade disruption.

Undoing The Years of Manufacturing Neglect

For many executives, the current push to bring production back to America comes after decades of decline. Bayard Winthrop, CEO of California-based apparel maker American Giant, described the past 40 years as an era in which U.S. manufacturing was not just ignored but actively undermined.

“You can absolutely — particularly in knitwear — make very high-quality, very large volume knitwear in the United States,” Winthrop said. “They’ve just forgotten how to do it.”

American Giant’s model, like Darn Tough’s, relies on deep investment in U.S. supply chains and labor. But unlike multinationals that can shift supply networks around the globe, these companies are locked in, by choice and conviction, to the U.S. economy.

That commitment is starting to pay off. Darn Tough’s socks, which retail for around $25 a pair, may seem expensive next to $3 wool socks on Amazon. But with imported goods facing potentially higher tariffs, that price gap is narrowing. What once seemed like a niche product for quality-focused customers could soon be a mainstream buy for cost-conscious consumers.

A Long Road Back

Still, the CEOs agree: rebuilding America’s manufacturing base won’t happen overnight.

Cabot emphasized that making things domestically requires more than patriotic slogans — it requires time to train workers, develop supply chains, and build the kind of muscle memory that was lost when companies offshored en masse.

“We sort of jettisoned a whole demographic of people that worked in manufacturing,” Cabot said. “I just don’t see the reason why we can’t bring this back, but it’s going to take time.”

That time, and a predictable policy environment, are what leaders like Banta and Winthrop are now pleading for. They welcome the administration’s intent but worry about the execution.

“I don’t like the instability,” Winthrop said. “I certainly don’t think we ought to be treating our friendly allies, like Canada and Vietnam, the same way we’re treating China.”

He’s not alone in that concern. Many in the domestic manufacturing sector believe that while tariffs can be a useful tool, they must be deployed with precision. A blunt-force approach could hurt allies, drive up input costs, and make it harder — not easier — to build out U.S. capabilities.

Companies like Darn Tough, American Giant, and Decked are proving that American-made is viable. But they also serve as reminders that reshoring is a long game. It took decades to hollow out the industrial economy, and it will take more than tariffs and slogans to bring it back.

“The opportunity is real,” said Cabot. “But only if we’re serious about it — and only if we give it enough time to grow roots again.”

Barely weeks into his appointment, the new Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), Bashir Ojulari, is already sketching out what could be the most transformative roadmap in the company’s troubled history. In a town hall meeting with NNPC staff in Abuja, Ojulari pledged to attract $60 billion in investments into Nigeria’s oil and gas sector by 2030, with $30 billion projected within the next three years.

The plan, which is seen as more than a mere vision statement, is expected to mark a departure from the failed promises of his predecessor, Mele Kyari, who repeatedly faced criticism for presiding through sharp operational decline, prolonged financial losses, and widespread opacity in the management of the state-run company.

“We stand at the gateway of a new era, one that demands courage, professionalism, and a relentless drive for excellence,” Ojulari declared. “Now is the time to turn our transformation promise into performance.”

Ojulari’s vow to reform NNPC Ltd. comes against a backdrop of mounting public frustration over years of operational inefficiency and financial bleeding under Kyari. Despite the company’s transition into a limited liability company in 2021, NNPC continued to underperform financially.

While Kyari occasionally declared paper profits, a closer look at the books often revealed creative accounting and heavy reliance on forex revaluations rather than real operational growth. Independent analysts and civil society organizations consistently challenged these declarations, citing discrepancies in subsidy payments, unpaid dividends to the federation account, and bloated overheads that consumed potential earnings.

In fact, under Kyari’s leadership, NNPC was widely viewed as a fiscal black hole—one that gulped billions in oil revenues with very little accountability or reinvestment. The years 2021 through 2023 saw the company struggle to meet its cash call obligations to joint venture partners, while fuel imports drained foreign reserves, often under controversial opaque subsidy arrangements.

The losses were staggering. NNPC’s financial statements prior to its 2021 transformation showed the company posting losses for several years, including a historic N803 billion loss in 2018. Even when reforms were introduced, they did little to address systemic corruption, political interference, and a lack of performance metrics. Kyari, critics argued, had allowed the transformation agenda to drift into a public relations campaign rather than enforce real structural reform.

Ojulari now carries the burden of rewriting that legacy.

Scaling Crude Production: A Recovery Plan or Wishful Thinking?

Ojulari aims to push Nigeria’s crude oil production beyond 2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2027, with an even more ambitious goal of 3 million bpd by 2030. It is a tall order in an environment where oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and declining foreign investments have kept production levels below 1.5 million bpd for much of the past three years.

For many industry watchers, these figures represent a statement of intent rather than a forecast. But Ojulari insists the targets are achievable with the right performance culture, renewed partnerships, and operational discipline.

“The difference this time will be execution,” he said while promising a corporate restructuring that places agility, data, and accountability at the center of operations.

Ojulari also outlined a target to grow domestic refining capacity to 200,000 bpd by 2027, with the goal of hitting 500,000 bpd by 2030. The logic is that without functioning refineries, Nigeria will continue to burn its oil wealth importing refined fuel at a premium, an economic paradox that has endured for decades.

Past administrations, including Kyari’s, made repeated commitments to fix the country’s refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri. Yet those facilities remained dysfunctional, often guzzling public funds through “turnaround maintenance” contracts with no tangible outcomes.

Ojulari’s plan signals a new approach, one that emphasizes performance contracts, public-private partnerships, and independent value assessments for every project.

“The targets we’ve set are indicators of hope, jobs, industrial growth, and energy security for millions of Nigerians,” Ojulari said.

The new GCEO projects that gas production will rise to 10 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by 2027 and reach 12 bcf/d by 2030. These figures align with Nigeria’s Decade of Gas initiative but also reflect Ojulari’s understanding of the global energy transition, where gas will remain critical in the shift from fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives.

For years, Nigeria has underutilized its vast gas reserves. While export projects like NLNG flourished, domestic utilization for power, cooking, and industry lagged behind. Ojulari says his strategy will reverse this trend, especially by improving pipeline infrastructure and removing bottlenecks that discourage private sector participation.

Building a Performance-Driven Culture

Ojulari’s transformation pitch goes beyond figures. He is promising to overhaul NNPC’s corporate culture—something critics say was sorely lacking under Kyari. According to him, the company will embrace a robust performance management framework, emphasize independent data assessments, and empower staff to lead with integrity.

“Transparency and accountability will be our anchors,” he said, adding that partnerships going forward must be aligned with value creation and shared prosperity.

Ojulari’s appointment by President Bola Tinubu on April 2, 2025, came after a boardroom purge that swept out Kyari and board chairman Pius Akinyelure, among others. It was a clean break meant to signal a new direction for the state oil giant, which continues to play an outsized role in Nigeria’s economy, accounting for over 80 percent of government export revenues.

Before joining NNPC, Ojulari built a distinguished career at Shell and later moved to the private sector, where he gained a reputation for investment strategy and operational efficiency. Analysts say his success at NNPC will depend not only on his vision but also on his ability to resist political pressures and enforce corporate discipline.

While the new CEO’s vision is plausible, energy experts note that the challenge isn’t just about targets, it’s about turning NNPC Ltd. into the kind of organization where performance, not proximity to power, drives decision-making.

First Holdco Plc closed 2024 on a triumphant note, posting a pre-tax profit of N781.88 billion, more than double the figure recorded the previous year, as strong growth in interest and non-interest income pushed gross earnings to N3.213 trillion.

The group’s audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2024, show an after-tax profit of N663.49 billion, up 115.12% year-on-year, with the Board recommending a final dividend of 60 kobo per share—bringing the total payout to N25.13 billion, a jump from N14.36 billion in 2023.

Backed by an aggressive loan book expansion and significant investment in securities, First Holdco delivered one of the strongest performances among Nigerian financial institutions, with return on equity and earnings per share also rising sharply.

Otedola Tightens Grip

One of the year’s major developments was billionaire investor Femi Otedola’s move to double down on his stake in the bank. Otedola now controls 4.23 billion shares—up 108.83% from 2.03 billion in 2023—giving him 11.8% of the group’s outstanding 35.9 billion shares.

This deepened ownership positions him as the largest single shareholder, fueling market speculation over his long-term strategy.

Interest Income Drives the Numbers

The lifeblood of First Holdco’s 2024 financial story was interest income, which soared 156% to N2.397 trillion, accounting for about 75% of total gross earnings, up from 60% in 2023.

Much of this growth stemmed from a rise in loans and advances to customers and financial institutions, which contributed over 64% of the interest income. A significant part of the remaining interest came from investments in securities, which jumped 134% year-on-year to N6.54 trillion, now representing a quarter of the group’s total assets.

Loan book growth was also impressive. Loans and advances to customers rose 43.5%, reaching N8.768 trillion, accounting for 45% of the group’s balance sheet.

But this growth came at a cost: interest expenses nearly doubled to N996.12 billion, driven mainly by the cost of deposits. Customer and institutional deposits surged 61.03% to N17.171 trillion, making up over 75% of the group’s total assets.

Despite impairment charges of N426.29 billion, of which N341 billion was provisioned for customer loans, net interest income after impairments still rose a staggering 203.4% to N975.02 billion.

Trading and Commissions Fuel Growth

Non-interest income held its weight in the performance story. Net fees and commissions rose 31% to N244.89 billion, with electronic banking, credit-related, and transfer fees each contributing over N46 billion.

On the trading side, First Holdco raked in N549.99 billion in gains from financial instruments measured at fair value (FVTPL), contributing 17% to gross earnings.

Windfall Levy Hits Tax Line Amid Recapitalization Push

Not all was rosy, though. Tax expenses nearly tripled to N132.98 billion, largely due to a N33.49 billion windfall levy spanning 2023 to 2025. The impact of this special tax, while heavy, did little to dent the group’s profit trajectory.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s recapitalization directive is still in play, but First Holdco has already begun shoring up its buffers. It launched a N149 billion rights issue in November 2024, part of efforts to meet the February 2026 deadline for new minimum capital thresholds.

Despite strong earnings and retained profits, now at N1.116 trillion, up 89.54%—the group’s share capital and premium remain unchanged at N251.34 billion, underscoring the urgency of its ongoing capital raise campaign.

On the Nigerian Exchange, the company’s stock closed at N24.60 as of April 17, 2025—a 12.3% decline year-to-date, despite the stellar numbers. Market analysts point to profit-taking and macroeconomic headwinds as reasons for the muted investor response.

Still, with total assets up 56.6% to N26.524 trillion, shareholders’ equity up 60% to N2.795 trillion, and cash and bank balances crossing N4.4 trillion, the group’s fundamentals remain solid.

What lies ahead? Analysts believe the group’s ability to sustain asset quality amid rapid loan growth and high-interest costs will be crucial in sustaining its revenue momentum. Meanwhile, all eyes will focus on how quickly it wraps up its capital raise—and whether Otedola plans another surprise move in 2025.