Fidelity Bank Plc, in partnership with the Lagos Business School (LBS), recently concluded the 15th edition of its sustained Export Management Programme (EMP 15).
The programme aims to train entrepreneurs on the opportunities in the international market and develop their capacity to play big in the export space.
The Export Management Programme, launched in 2016 and hosted in partnership with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), is designed to equip entrepreneurs with the requisite knowledge for driving the country’s non-oil exports in support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) export sector initiative.
“Entrepreneurs at the EMP 15 were empowered to export agriculture products the right way, and those who participated in the training have been upscaled on packaging and prerequisite understanding of the agriculture products to be exported,” Emmanuel Nwalor, team lead, export and agriculture division, Fidelity Bank, said.
According to Nwalor, Nigeria is an agricultural commodities-based country with a lot of products like cashews, cocoa, and ginger, among others that are exported out of the country.
“At Fidelity Bank, we advocate for value-added export and we have witnessed these in the manufacturing sector leveraging on the EMP initiative to upscale exporters on the relevant details and understanding of all that is required in the production and packaging of value-added products for export,” he said.
According to him, the export business is knowledge-intensive and requires a lot of skill to perform effectively, hence the partnership with the LBS to build adequate capacity for entrepreneurs which is required for them to be successful in the non-oil export business.
“For us at Fidelity Bank, we have in partnership with the LBS been able to scope the initiative by helping people to understand that packaging, and quality, among other parameters, are to be put in high consideration to export agriculture commodities out of Nigeria,” Nwalor said.
Banjo Victor, director of executive education at LBS, said that the EMP is one of the most laudable initiatives at LBS, as an intervention that helps to tackle some of the challenges in the exportation of non-oil products.
“With the coming together of LBS, Fidelity Bank and NEPC, I wonder why an entrepreneur will not want to be on this program if he is serious about exporting quality agriculture products out of Nigeria,” she said.
