NBCC creates awareness, market opportunity for start-ups

The Nigeria British Chamber of commerce (NNBC) has provided an opportunity for small and medium enterprise (SMEs) to exhibit and market their locally made products to direct consumers.

By so doing, the NBCC created an enabling environment where these start-ups showcased their products, getting direct contacts through business-to-business engagements.

According to Akinola Olawore, president of NBCC, the significance of the exhibition was to bring the buyers close to the sellers by creating a marketing environment where they could meet people, know their needs, innovate and produce locally and sustain the economy.

“The exhibition is to showcase some of the products made locally. We need to start looking inwards. There are quite a number of entrepreneurs who are already looking inwards, people are not aware of the importance of these things and the beautiful products they produce. So, the significance of the exhibition is to bring people out to come and see what the entrepreneurs are doing and see how they can work hard for them indigenously,” Olawore said.

“There are so many indigenous products, and these products are as good as the ones people buy abroad. With the cost of foreign exchange and inflation, it is better we patronize our locally made products,” he stated.

The president stated that finance was always part of challenges facing SMEs, stating however that it was not the major problem.

He said it was better for entrepreneurs in the chamber to go as a group while seeking funds from financial institutions rather than as individuals.

“The major thing is that, first, they want to expand. They will need finance but some things must be considered when they are expanding. How much do they understand business? The managing strategy you adopt when you are small is different from the one you adopt when the business grows,” he explained.

He stated that the second problem with SMEs was exposure as, according to him, people needed the products but did not know that the entrepreneurs existed nor did they know that they produced goods that would compete favourably with those from other countries.

He further said that the chamber was trying to address these problems by providing a clinic where these entrepreneurs would be advised on business management, and to help them do the back room things they needed for their businesses.

Matthew .O. Adeleye, chairman of the organising committee, said: “This event is created by the female SMEs committee, which is an opportunity for female entrepreneurs to showcase and display their entrepreneurial skills, by exhibiting the various products they have made to know how far they have gone and their contribution to Africa’s development. We are looking for how to diversify the economy and we want to encourage the women as they produce Nigerian made products,” Adeleye said.

He stated that in addition to servicing the local market, it was important for the SMEs to look beyond the shores of Nigeria by exporting their products.

Angel James