From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has trained no fewer than 140 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSE) operators in Ogun on how to package, export and place their products on electronic platforms, particularly, Amazon.
Speaking at the sideline of a one-day workshop organised by the NNEPC in conjunction with the Ogun State Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and Export and Sell Nigeria Limited, in Abeokuta, the Regional Coordinator of NEPC, Southwest region, Samuel Oyeyipo, disclosed that SMSE owners in Nigeria can make $500 million monthly in exporting and selling their products on Amazon.
The theme of the workshop was: “Increasing Market Access through Amazon E-Commerce Platform”.
Oyeyipo, who noted that Amazon remains the world largest e-platform for sales of products where Nigerians, especially SMSE operators can make huge sales and earn in forex, disclosed that the NEPC has been providing exports grants, shipment incentives, among others to SMSE exporters to expand their businesses.
“We are training them on how to package their products and the quality requirements that will enable them to feature their products on Amazon platform which is the world largest for online sales of products. And Nigeria is arriving a little bit late on this platform while some other smaller African countries are already on this platform.
“What Nigerian Export Promotion Council is trying to do is to sensitise the business community, the prospective and active exporters on what they need to do in order to be compliant with the quality requirements that will enable them to feature their products on that platform for global sales.
“We have been doing a lot of things for small scale exporters. For instance, the port expansion facility programme which is one of the economic sustainable plans of the Federal government aimed at assisting upcoming exporters, especially our Medium and Small Scale Enterprises to grow their businesses so that they also participate in export business.
“We identify those private entrepreneurs with enough quality products that can feature in various parts of the world in terms of exports and to provide shipment incentives in terms of exports grants to them so that they can expand their businesses”, the Southwest Regional Coordinator of NEPC stated.
The Managing Direct and CEO of Export and Sell, Nduka Ude reiterated that business owners in Nigerian can make $500 million monthly selling their products on Amazon.
According to him, “Amazon makes a monthly sale of $33 billion, and there is nothing that stops Nigeria from making $500 million every month selling on Amazon. The potential is there, we just have to tap into it.”
“We are here to show people the potentials that exist in selling on Amazon. Amazon is a platform that everybody knows about and if we can have companies in Ghana who are making a million dollars every month on Amazon, selling everyday items, nothing stops Nigerian companies from doing the same and that is the knowledge, the process, the how-to-do-it that we are trying to pass across to Nigerian businesses so that we can also start earning in forex.”
He, however, lamented stringent government policies, which according to him is killing export business in Nigeria.
In her submission, the State Commissioner for Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Kikelomo Longe emphasised the importance of e-commerce platforms, saying “in-person buying and selling is fast being overtaken by an electronic version of trading, called e-commerce.”