Fidelity Bank linking Nigeria to the outside world through export trade promotion initiatives
Fidelity Bank Plc, a leading deposit money bank in Nigeria, is making sustained efforts to link the country to the outside world through its various export trade promotion programmes. These efforts are informed by the belief that export trade facilitates economic expansion, promotes international cooperation, improves the balance of payments and boosts foreign currency earnings of a country.
The Bank also believes that international trade plays crucial roles in the expansion of the economy of a country because it allows for the development of markets, creates employment, reduces the rate of poverty, and breaks monopolies by discouraging the domination of a market by a few. The overarching issue here is how a country is able to harness her resources and make them available to other parts of the world. It is, therefore, on this score that the on-going efforts by Fidelity Bank, in vigorously promoting export for the country, can be appreciated.
Recall that for some years now, the various administrations in the country have been working on the diversification of the economy to reduce the country’s dependence on oil and gas as the main source of revenue. The overarching aim of this policy is to hedge the country’s economy against the vagaries of the oil prices in the international market and other associated problems. Because of over reliance on oil as the mainstay of the economy, the country is not earning enough foreign exchange to execute national budgets, a situation that may explain the rising debt profile of the country, hence, it becomes very imperative to diversify the nation’s sources of income.
Fidelity Bank is one of the few banks in the country that have keyed in into this government’s noble policy initiative. Last November, the bank launched Fidelity International Trade & Creative Connect (FITCC), a global platform designed to facilitate the promotion of Nigeria’s value-added exports in the global marketplace and integrations to global supply-chain networks via partnerships and foreign direct investments (FDIs).
The inaugural edition of the showpiece, which held in November15-16, 2022, at Novotel London West, 1 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom, hosted more than 100 exhibitors from Nigeria with product offerings ranging from processed food to fashion, fintech and the arts.
The Managing Director /Chief Executive officer of the bank, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, said the event which was in collaboration with strategic partners created the platform to connect Nigerian exporters with UK buyers. She said it was an extension of the support that the bank provides to the business ecosystem in Nigeria as it works to help them compete favourably on the global stage.
“FITCC is the next step in a series of activities we organised over the years to promote exportation in Nigeria. We started by investing in growing local capacity through our Export Management Programme (EMP) in conjunction with the Lagos Business School and providing funding options for exporters.
“Over the years, we have remained committed to promoting non-oil exports from Nigeria, and through the FITCC, we are opening new opportunities in the international markets for Nigerian exporters and contributing positively to the growth of our economy.
“We are delighted to have Invest Africa collaborate with us on this amazing journey as we connect local businesses to importers and investors in the United Kingdom and Europe,” said the Fidelity Bank’s CEO.
In her remarks, Mrs Alison Kingsley-Hall, Head of Membership of Invest Africa, said “As a leading business and investment platform, Invest Africa is thrilled to be partnering with Fidelity Bank on their inaugural FITCC conference in London this November.
“With a global footprint of more than 400 member companies, comprising multinationals, private equity firms, institutional investors, development finance institutions, professional service organisations, government bodies, and entrepreneurs, we are well placed to support the bank in bringing the right partners and delegates to the event.”
“The Nigerian market is hugely important to our members and there is no better time than now to showcase the extensive export capacity that Nigeria holds,”
Besides product exhibitions, FITCC featured keynotes/plenaries, syndicate rooms for closed-door engagements with industry leaders, deal/meeting rooms, art exhibitions, themed theatrical performances, networking cocktails, and side fashion shows.
The well-attended event also featured keynote addresses by Prof Benedict Oramah, President/ Chairman of African Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM) and Aminu Takuma, Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) who discussed “Leveraging International Partnerships to Transform Africa’s Trade & Creatives” and “Selling Nigeria to the World (Spotlighting Investment Opportunities and Incentives) respectively.
Mustafa Chike-Obi, Chairman of Fidelity Bank Plc gave a keynote address titled, “Connecting Nigeria to the World Through Trade Enhancements and Creative Exchange” while Karl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, also anchored a fireside chat on “Fintech and the Creative Economy: The New Growth Frontiers for Nigeria” with Patrick Smith, Editor, Africa Confidential.
In his goodwill message at the event, the UK Minister of State (Development and Africa), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell, expressed his gratitude to Fidelity Bank for putting together the showpiece , stating that “The UK is an obvious market for Nigeria with our common language, flourishing diaspora community and complimentary time zones; and Nigeria’s economic potentials is a great fit for many UK businesses and investors.”
Also, as part of the effort to promote non-oil exports, Fidelity Bank runs capacity development programme called Export Management Programme (EMP) in collaboration with Lagos Business School (LBS) and Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). Launched in 2016, EMP is an intense and hand-on export management education, designed to equip Nigerian exporters, regulators, financiers and policy makers with the practical knowledge and business management skills required to compete effectively in the global export market. Essentially, according to the bank, it is designed to equip entrepreneurs with requisite knowledge for driving the country’s non-oil exports. The programme design and delivery is led by LBS faculty, with support from NEPC experts. A panel of guest speakers from relevant organisations (e.g. NEPC, NCS, CBN, NEXIM Bank, Fidelity Bank, etc.) is also part of the training faculty.
Commenting on one of the EMP training workshop by the bank last year , Divisional Head, Export and Agriculture, Fidelity Bank Plc, Isaiah Ndukwe said, “Most people think that non-oil exports is just about earning in dollars. I think it’s beyond that. A key upside to an export-oriented business or economy is that it makes you super competitive over time eg improvements in processes, product design and packaging, quality and cost optimizations. That is why beyond the obvious, which is dollar earnings, we are big on helping businesses build export business management capacities.”
On agribusiness, some of the bank’s key interventions include expansion of capacities in strategic value-chain segments (rice, diary, poultry, oil palm, cocoa, etc.) that are key to narrowing food security gaps and enhancing foreign exchange earnings.
In the pursuit of the objective, the bank has built strong partnerships across the broad spectrum of economic actors in the agribusiness space to drive its agribusiness financing interventions to micro and last mile levels. It has leveraged strategic partnerships with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) under various industry targeted intervention funding programmes to enhance access to credits to eligible players in the agribusiness and non-oil exports space.
“Our activities have continued to be recognised by operators, funding partners and all other actors in the agribusiness space. At the Bankers’ Committee meeting of December 2019, we were awarded 2nd position in Sustainable Agriculture Transactions of the year, said Ndukwe, who spoke in Akure, Ondo State, last year.
On the strategic planning on the non-oil sector, Ndukwe said the bank is positioned to absorb CBN policy trust to reduce over-dependent on oil revenue in the country.He explained that the institution is enhancing competitiveness in the banking system while focusing attention on building the capability of exporters on the rudiment of exportation of local commodities, stressing that with the new policy the bank is reshaping the mind-set of exporters to imbibe value addition on their commodities to earn more forex.
According to him, the workshop tagged, Harnessing Export Business Opportunities, CBN RT200 FX Programme: current issues, non-oil exports and implications to business; drew inspiration on the policy’s guidelines. The guidelines involve the provision of single-digit credit facility to exporters, provision of rebate on foreign currency, funding of commodity production and value addition process, building terminals and enabling biannual summit for the review of the implementation of the policy. He noted that the CBN efforts towards actualising $200 billion in Foreign Exchange (FX) repatriation from non-oil exports over the next five years have been given a major boost.
Some of the exporters at the export training event, expressed satisfaction with the capacity building workshop, which enable them to get acquitted with the CBN policy and opportunities on exports business.
An official of the NEPC who does not want his name mentioned said the importance of training lies in the fact that it is a way of boosting exports. Australia, for instance, he said, had improved the number of exporters from 4,000 to 50,000 in one month with a similar kind of training. The number of exporters registering with the NEPC has been on the rise since the beginning of the month. He advised exporters to focus more on finished goods as a value adding strategy.
