LCCI, Commonwealth to raise new breed of SME exporters

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is collaborating with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council to produce a new breed of exporters in the micro, small and medium scale (SME) segment.

The partnership will ensure that Nigerian SMEs find the right opportunity, market and get mentorship from experienced professionals.

At a courtesy visit weekend, Oliver Everett, CEO of Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, said the programme would expose exporters in the SME segment of the economy to the global market.

Everett said SMEs would get mentorship and an opportunity to attend trade missions through the programme, adding that they would equally get government alignments and guidance that would enable them to believe that impossibility was nothing.

“This is an important programme. We need to invest in SMEs, and we want your help in finding upcoming businesses,” Everett told the LCCI council members.

“There is huge investment opportunity,” he said, adding that the federal government’s crackdown on corruption was already raising investor confidence.

“Helping SMEs is always the best way to get those people who do not have the right chance in life,” he said in a response to questions, disclosing that Nigerians were the fourth biggest spenders in London.

Earlier, Nike Akande, president, LCCI, had said the chamber was collaborating to promote trade and investment within the Commonwealth.

According to Akande, a two-time industry minister, the collaboration would mobilise private sector participation, stressing that the SME initiative would forge a good partnership between LCCI and Commonwealth. She said the project would be successful and mutually beneficial for both the LCCI and Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council was established to assist member countries of the Commonwealth in attracting high quality investment and employment opportunities.

It was also formed to promote intra-Commonwealth trade and investment and help establish the conditions for growth in Commonwealth countries while working to improve economic governance, transparency and accountability.

Knut Ulvmoen, executive director of Dangote Group and deputy president of LCCI, said the Commonwealth should help the country in the area of expertise and bring in people that would create jobs and improve the economy.

“We need people that are genuinely interested in creating jobs. We want to see people here who are interested in growing the economy, not just those who see this place as a dumping ground,” Ulvmoen said, urging the Commonwealth delegation to look at what they could bring into the country.

Michael Olawale-Cole, vice president of the chamber, advised the delegation to get partners from chambers as this would eliminate the possibility of running into fraudsters.

Gabriel Idahosa, council member of the chamber and one of entrepreneurship mentors for the LCCI, advised foreign investors not to think that Nigeria was full of fraudsters, stressing that they should confer with their compatriots already in Nigeria to understand the true situation in the country.

ODINAKA ANUDU