The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has widened the capacity of regional exporters with a five-day training program on business generation techniques and trade promotion.
The initiative was run under the auspices of the West Africa Competitiveness Programme, funded by the European Union through the 11th European Development Fund and supported by the ECOWAS Commission and International Trade Centre.
Dr. Ezra Yakusak, who is also the President of the ECOWAS Trade Promotion Organizations Network and the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, expressed his sincere gratitude to the key partners for supporting the training.
The adoption of the unified action plan to assist trade development in the area and beyond, he claimed, was championed at the most recent Annual General Meeting of the ECOWAS TPO Network.
He further said this informed the need to train and re-train staff of various TPO member states to enhance their trade skills, thereby, improving trade within the sub-region.
He said, “The training is aimed at strengthening our capacities in terms of ‘Business Generation Methodology and Business Promotion’, I am delighted to inform you that the previous training, which focused on ‘Result Based Management Oriented Project Cycle Management’ has tremendously impacted in enhancing the performance of the participants and up skilled the capability and competence of other staff and businesses through knowledge transfer and coaching technique.”
He congratulated the participants on the opportunity provided through the training for them to build up their skills and acquire the knowledge required to support export-ready companies participating optimally in trade promotion events while equipping them with relevant tools to develop supply and demand surveys, develop, implement, and effectively monitor and evaluate promotional services efforts.
Yakusak added, “Our focus should, therefore, be targeted at expediting regional trade flow by closing the missing links and fostering a greater participation of Regional businesses across production lines.”
He stressed that the region has all it takes to substitute imported inputs with locally sourced raw materials and components, which was a sure way of increasing intra-African trade.
