baltty: It feels real nice to see that Nigerian business men and manufacturers are now thinking in a direction that contributes immensely to Nation building. I'm saying this because any form of exportation, be it a manufactured product or an agricultural product is a source of foreign exchange revenue for Nigeria and this is invaluable to nation building.

Here's an article I read a few days days ago that got me really thinking :

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FG steps up efforts on non-oil products export to ECOWAS countries

Oladunjoye Snr correspondent
Posted on Friday, November 9th, 2012

The Federal Government has said that it has put structures in place to boost trade between Nigeria and other member states of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS).
Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said this at the 3rd Nigerian Non-Oil Export Conference Exhibition and Awards, held in Abuja. Aganga said the Federal Government would formalise data capturing of the country’s non-oil exports to ECOWAS countries from its current 10 per cent to 50 per cent within the next three years as part of efforts to improve regional trade.
“One of the initiatives, which the Nigerian Export Promotion Council has done, is the data capturing of the informal trade between Nigeria and other countries. Also, we are developing the trans-national border markets in order to formalise trade that we tend to see across the borders. The first one we are doing is in Okerete, Oyo State. Already, we have done the business plan.
“Also, on the regional level, we will redress the previous situation of 80 per cent of ECOWAS goods being of Nigerian origin and less than 10 per cent of it being captured in Nigeria’s official trade performance figures, hence our determination to formalise Nigeria’s exports to ECOWAS up to 50 per cent from its present 10 per cent over the next three years. We also believe that making ECOWAS Nigeria’s catchment’s area will help to enhance the capacity of our non-oil exporters to be more actively and fruitfully participate in the fiercely competitive international marketplace, which is the pillar of our development strategy,” he said.
The minister also noted that the Corporate Affairs Commission had developed a special programme to fast-track the registration of Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises, adding that the Ministry of Trade and Investment would work with the Commission to effectively participate and compete in the global export marketplace.
“The other thing we are doing is to encourage Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises who are into non-oil export by letting them know that they can access finance if they become organised. We have opened a special window in the Corporate Affairs Commission to fast-track the registration of most of these MSMES.
“They will come on board, register and then we will form them into co-operatives. Also, we will link them up with business developers to work with them to develop their business plans to enable them have access to credit. Thereafter, we will work with them to make sure that they have access to finance,” Aganga said.
Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, said the development of the non-oil sector was critical to the realisation of Nigeria’ s vision of becoming one of the 20 most developed economies by the year 2020.
“There is no doubt that the development of the non-oil sector should be given the pride of place in the Transformation Agenda of this administration since the non-oil sector holds the key to its realisation,” he said.


Ref :
http://www.dailyindependentnig.com/2012/11/fg-steps-up-efforts-on-non-oil-products-export-to-ecowas-countries/

This issue of exporting Nigerian made products to other Ecowas countires is very crucial. We need to be discussing it more often.

It looks like for now, these are the only options there are to gain more market share in West & Central Africa if you dont have the expertise it takes to do it yourself. Based on what I've gathered so far from other stakeholders, exporting FMCG products to Ecowas and Central African countries is very profitable because these countries take Nigeria to be their supermarket where every FMCG product is produced and is available. Since Nigerian products are usually not too expensive, once the products get to these non-producing countries, they are usually purchased immediately. The only issue here is that venturing into these markets is not as easy as A, B, C. You need to be careful and well guided especially if you dont speak French.


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Nigeria Exports Non-Oil Products To 103 Countries – Aganga
LEADERSHIP EDITORS on May 3, 2012 - 7:23pm

Dr Olusegun Aganga, the Minister of Trade and Investment, says the country exports about 117 non-oil products to 103 countries annually.
Aganga said this on Thursday in Abuja at the Ministerial briefing to mark this year’s democracy day and the first anniversary of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
He said that Nigeria had 5,300 products but exports only 117, adding that there was need for diversification.
``This means we have to diversify by moving to value added products, we have the market and raw materials.
``It is time to become an industrialised nation by focusing on the area where we have comparative and competitive advantage.’’
Aganga said that a new trade policy had been put in place by the administration, the first in the past 10 years, to boost Nigeria’s domestic, regional and international trade as well as facilitate the inflow of investments into the country.
He said the country had an advantage in Agriculture, which had necessitated the repositioning of the sector.
``Due to the revamping and strengthening of the Federal Produce Inspection Service (FPIS), a total of 265,588 metric tons of agricultural products were inspected.
``As a result of this, export volumes increased by 17.23 per cent and export values by 23. 9 per cent.’’
The minister said that Nigeria had attracted a lot of investments in spite of the security challenges it was presently facing as well as provided a haven for investors due to its large workforce and market in Africa.
Aganga, however, regretted that out of 84 million acres of arable land in Nigeria, only 40 per cent were being utilised.
He said he had visited over 12 countries to attract investments to Nigeria, adding that the visits had started yielding positive results.
To this end, he said, the ministry had established a trade and investment council with Australia.
According to him, efforts are being made toward establishing similar councils with other countries, including China, Qatar and Brazil.
Aganga said that an MoU had also been signed with an American firm to establish power plants that could produce 10,000 megawatts of electricity as well as assemble locomotives in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, said that Nigeria would surmount its present security challenges and move forward as the fastest growing economy in sub-Saharan Africa.
He congratulated journalists in the country on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day and appealed to them to ensure ``balance, probity and integrity’’ in their reportage.



http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/23631/2012/05/03/nigeria_exports_nonoil_products_103_countries_aganga.html

baltty: I came across this article on the internet while searching for professional investment tips. I thought I'd share it with you guys.


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Nigerian FMCG Exports To ECOWAS
GoArticles.com

In recent times, the Federal Government of Nigeria has doubled its efforts to re-invent its international sources of revenue by diversifying its non-oil exports to foreign countries. In this attempt, Nigeria hopes to recapture its surrounding ECOWAS markets and to penetrate into the West African Francophone economies by exporting made in Nigeria goods to them.

Traces of made in Nigeria products have over the years been greatly found in many Anglophone West African States. However this cannot be said to be so in Nigeria's surrounding francophone countries. These countries turn more to France for the purchase and importation of their basic domestic, social and industrial needs rather than to the buoyant manufacturing Anglophone nation beside them - Nigeria. From all indications, the possibility of differences in product quality has hardly ever been raised. This is because Nigerian products are reputed for been champions in the categories they compete in. Nigerian manufacturers through government subsidies in most cases, acquire cutting edge technologies from Asia, Europe and North America for their industries and produce under very strict production principles and controls. Trade liberalization and the free movement of goods within the economic community of West African States has also not been as much of a stumbling block as widely publicized. This is owing to the fact that a good extent of the liberalization program is implemented in West African borders and the few unimplemented stumbling blocks can be not be categorized as been formidable barriers to importation and trade for determined traders and manufacturers. The big business problem that neither the Francophone governments nor the Anglophone governments can solve in the short-term is the difference in business language.

The central body of the member states of the West African economic community (ECOWAS) has implemented various reforms aimed at accelerating regional integration. Most of these, like the mandatory learning of either French or English at the primary and secondary stages of education and the facilitation of student exchange programs between Anglophone and Francophone West African countries, effective as they may seem, are geared toward the long term. This seems not to be an adequate solution for manufacturers who seemingly want solutions positioned for the short term as well as for the long term. To accelerate business between Nigerian manufacturers and West African importers/distributors, the Nigerian business community seems to have spontaneously evolved its own solution to the perennial problem of language difference. This solution seems to have been found in the use of bilingual business services companies who fill this gap between Nigerian manufacturers and their Francophone West and Central Africa customers. These business services companies, generally known as Regional Expansion Partners (REP), work essentially as extensions of the sales & marketing departments of their manufacturing clients by integrating themselves into the daily business activities and lives of the manufacturers. Prominently identified amongst the REP companies in Nigeria are:

CIMREP International
Companies International Markets & Regional Expansion Partners - This is a privately run company which specializes in helping Nigerian manufacturers expand their market share and businesses into West African markets. The company employs highly skilled bilingual business managers who speak fluent French and English and are former sales & marketing managers of large multinational manufacturing companies. These bilingual business managers are usually widely traveled within West/Central Africa and understand the business environment of Francophone Africa. They achieve their tasks through field visits whereby they determine the best markets for their customers' products, through the articulation and structuring of a competitive entry strategy for their clients and then through the MIH stage (Making It Happen) whereby their clients' products are actually exported to the various markets in West and Central Africa. They are open to all manufacturers and are reputed for been highly professional.

NEPC
Nigerian Export promotion Council - This is a government run agency with the global responsibility of promoting non-oil exports from Nigeria to foreign countries. Its outreach is more diversified. It covers all the continents of the world while still paying particular attention to each continent. It has a crop of bilingual officers who help facilitate business exchange and exportation between Nigeria and other francophone West African states. Every exporter is bound to pass through this council at some stage of its exportation - registration, exportation documents, etc - but is not bound to involve the council in its commercial strategy though the council also renders that service. The council has a good reputation for professionalism.

The Future
According to ITC COMTRADE statistics, total imports into West Africa in 2010, excluding Nigeria, was about $14 billion. If the large spate of informal importation and informal cross border trade is factored into this figure, it would be even bigger. In the bid of the Nigerian government to make non-oil products a significant contributor to the Nigerian GDP, it is expected that the coming years will gradually draw in the benefits of the long-term programs, like the Exportation Expansion Grant (EEG) already put in place by the Federal Government of Nigeria.



Ref :
http://goarticles.com/article/Nigerian-FMCG-Exports-To-ECOWAS/7833619/

Nice write up on the exportation activities and efforts going on in Naija. I also came across the article but didnt have the patience to stop and read it. Thanks for pasting it here. It made it easier for me.