DFID-GEMS4 to create new market for Aba-made products

 The project, which focuses on gender and women’s economic empowerment, will enable MSMEs in Abia, especially Aba artisans, to market their goods online and attract new markets for their products.

GEMS4 project also seeks to improve income and employment opportunities within Nigeria’s wholesale and retail sector, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable.

While Nigeria’s wholesale and retail sector are growing quickly, inefficiencies within the distribution chain have resulted in lower prices for producers, lower wages for employers, lower profits for businesses and a higher cost of living for consumers.

Consequently, GEMS4 seeks to tackle the underlying inefficiencies in the system and work towards promoting pro-poor growth in the sector.

The project is working with business associations, service providers, producers, retailers, wholesalers and other actors involved in the market, linking them so they work together and serve each other better.

Additionally, the project aims at building local capacity and changing market incentives to meet the long-term needs of the poor.

Considering also that women play a significant role within Nigeria’s wholesale and retail sector, the project will focus on gender and women’s economic empowerment to ensure that growth of the wholesale and retail sector is accompanied by widened economic opportunities for women.

Aisha Lawal, private sector development advisor (Wholesale and Retail sector), GEMS4, in her address at a forum organised by Made in Nigeria Global Consultancy Services Limited and facilitated by GEMS4, explained that the project would create opportunities for MSMEs to find their way into the market.

Lawal explained that GEMS4 project, would help local producers to improve quality of their products to enable them compete favorably in the local and international markets.

 “It is not all about producing; we also want to provide market locally and internationally for those products. And how can we do this? By producing quality products, branding our products properly, to ensure that they have necessary ingredients that will put them on a par with foreign goods.

 “We are here to support you to create all the necessary linkage to get to the website. We are also here to link you to the necessary business networks. Whatever you want to do, whoever is having challenges with relevant regulatory authorities, we are here to see that the constraint is sorted out to enable you do your business,” she said.

Micah Mendei, senior intervention manager, GEMS4, said the project would create new market opportunities for the entrepreneurs as most entrepreneurs sell their products in the traditional markets.

According to Mendei, with the growing number of internet users, not so many people go to traditional markets to shop, stressing that most people prefer convenience via online platforms.

“And even goods sold over the internet are even far cheaper that those sold at the traditional markets, because they don’t have to incur cost in transporting their goods from point of purchase to point of sale. Neither are they going to incur costs for renting stores in the traditional market.

“It is also a platform for them to be connected to the various regulatory agencies. Many of them have tried to get their products certified as individuals, but not many have been able to actualise that, because, perhaps, when they made efforts, they met a particular constraint and they stopped,” he explained.

He stressed that Government agencies like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Bank of Agriculture (BoA) and the Bank of Industry (BoI) have come to understand that the project is aimed at opening up spaces for smaller businesses to grow along the economic ladder.

“Consequently, through our partnership, we have been able to link them together such that the agencies can now work directly with some of these businesses, support them and customise solutions that fit their current status, “he affirmed.

Emma Nwakpadolu, president, Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA), who also participated in the clinic, stated that the project would enhance the productive capacity of artisans and other manufacturers, especially as they would be interfacing with regulatory agencies in their operations.

“This programme will expose MSMEs in Nigeria to local and international patrons. One thing is to develop a product, produce and package it and another thing is to let the people know that you have this product. And that is what this group wants to help us do. They want to help us market our products.

“Today is a great day and I will want the entire MSME sector in Aba to key into this project,” Nwakpadolu said.  

Okechukwu Williams, president, Leather Products Manufacturers Association of Abia State (LEPMAAS), who also collaborated the ACCIMA president, said marketing has been a major challenge faced by the Aba finished leather sector.

According to Williams, “We won’t be producing and marketing the products at the same time. Somebody should do that for us.” 

He encouraged all shoe makers in Aba to take advantage of the scheme to market their products through electronic channels (e-channels), which he observed is the way to go.

Onyebuchi Nwaigwe, president, Association of Tailors and Fashion Designers (ATFAD), pleaded for financial support for the MSME sector.

 He alleged that funds set aside for MSMEs by the Federal Government ends up, most of the time, in wrong hands and suggested that future funds for the sector should be administered through trade associations and cooperative societies.