Out of 253 participants currently enrolled in the Export Readiness Training Programme in Lagos, 20 outstanding small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be selected to represent Nigeria at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) scheduled for September 2025 in Algiers, Algeria.
The announcement was made by the Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, during the programme’s opening in Alausa, Ikeja. The initiative is a collaboration between Lagos State, Afreximbank, and ImpactHER, aimed at equipping local businesses with the skills needed to enter international markets.
Describing the opportunity as a gateway to over 1.3 billion African consumers, the Commissioner said the program is more than training—it is a platform to launch Lagos-based enterprises onto the continental stage as Lagos Export Ambassadors. She noted that by building global competitiveness, the initiative would stimulate job creation, wealth generation, and economic growth in the state.
She emphasized the need for export readiness in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which presents unprecedented access to a unified African market. While MSMEs form over 90% of Lagos’s business ecosystem and play a key role in innovation and job creation, many still struggle with key challenges like inadequate packaging, compliance issues, limited financing, and weak market linkages.
The week-long programme is designed to tackle these barriers through intensive training sessions covering export documentation, packaging for international standards, trade finance, customs processes, AfCFTA strategies, digital trade, and gender-responsive exporting for women-led enterprises.
Participants were urged to see the training as a springboard to global opportunities, not just a classroom experience.
Joining virtually from Egypt, Afreximbank’s Director of SME Development, Mr. Ody Akhanoba, revealed that the training is part of a broader effort by the bank to support SME growth, with $18.7 billion allocated in 2024 for capacity building across 27 African countries. He added that in 2025, Afreximbank plans to reach over 3,000 SMEs across 38 African and 7 Caribbean nations.
The 20 selected SMEs will showcase their products and services at IATF 2025 in Algeria, gaining valuable exposure, forging international partnerships, and accessing wider African and g
