 |
| William Fanjoy |
Why
does the US want to foster trade and investment in Nigeria?
Nigeria is a
great market. How could you not come to an over $500bn economy? How could you
not come to an economy that, like United States, one day, there is one car on
your street and in the next day, there are going to be 50 cars or 500 cars? I
had an interesting conversation three weeks ago with the Press Secretary for
Transportation in Kenya. She told me that in Kenya, they have 12,000 kilometers
of paved roads since decolonisation and in the next five years, they are going
to build another 10,000 km of paved roads. That is the market. Here is the
market. So, we are here out of necessity. We can’t ignore a market like this.
There seems
to be cultural attraction here. There seems to be a connection between
Americans and Nigerians. They feel like they are the same people; I don’t know
if they have a common history or common culture somewhere back there.
A number of
our delegates are Nigerian-Americans, and they want to come back here and do
business. But even the ones who are not Nigerian-Americans, when they met the
Nigerian companies, they have an affinity – exporting or business is a contact
sport and it is a personal sport. And the reason we are getting them together
personally is because it is a relationship that they need to build and they
have to have confidence in their partner. Nigerians are nice people and
Americans identify with them.
In
terms of investment into Nigeria through this trade mission, can you give a
sense of what should be expected?
We had 107
businesses come to Africa; it is the largest US government-led trade mission
ever. We came to eight countries; here, we had 201 business-to-business
meetings and approximately 80 per cent of the 107 companies also have B2B and
multiple economies. We don’t just look at B2B; at the same time, we are trying
to bring in large number of American companies who have all been vetted because
we know that they too will start talking with one another and form strong
alliances in order to be competitive in Africa. So it’s a number of companies;
it’s the quality of the companies and the number of economies that we are
trying to penetrate.
What
has been the impact of this visit so far?
The impact
of this visit has been creating models of real exporting between the United
States and Africa. In the past, all we have had are models created by large
companies who have done very well like General Electric, but ever since the
President has devoted time and resources such as Power Africa, Doing Business
in Africa, and the President Advisory Council on Africa, we have been looking
for a real model of business between a small, medium-sized business in the
United States and a Nigerian company or an African company on the ground.
Over five
per cent economic growth means a lot, but to the business people, it doesn’t
mean anything. In terms of my office, which helps US companies find companies
in Africa to sign contracts with, it also means nothing. What means a lot is to
have one model – one American company signing a contract with a Nigerian
company and from that, we can then replicate it.
If we can do
it in Nigeria, we can do it in Cameroon, and then we can do it in Mali, and
there is nothing stopping us. When we were looking at coming to Africa with the
Trade Winds mission, it has been a two-year mission, meaning last year, we were
trying to bring this particular trade mission to Africa. Last year, we asked
the secretary, but there were other initiatives.
This year,
when we were asking the secretary, the department of commerce to come to
Africa, the president sent a note from the White House to the secretary,
saying, “You will come to Africa”, and it is because this trade mission, unlike
other trade missions, is not focused on the high level, on the meetings with
the president or between two presidents; it is based on the real level,
meetings between one company in the United States and a Nigerian company. Our
track record is that 50 per cent of the companies coming here we know will be
signing a contract in Africa. I believe that track record will be higher for
this trade mission.
All the
companies on the visit know what the economic situation is here and what the
political and commercial situation is. The beauty of our model is that my
organisation back in the United States spent quality time getting the American
companies; so when there is synergy between the American companies and the
Nigerian companies, there is no reason why there won’t be signed contracts. And
our role at that time is to get out of the way and let them do business.
How
many US companies were on the delegation to Nigeria and what sectors are they
focusing on?
There were
16 companies that came here with me; they were across all sectors – oil and
gas, medical, pharmaceutical, consulting, energy, cosmetics; there is really no
sector that was left out. When you see an economy as large as Nigeria, the
largest in sub-Saharan Africa, there is no sector that should not be approached.
Think of the United States in the 1950s and what is happening currently. One
day, no one had a TV; the next day, everyone wanted to have a TV. Today, I
don’t know the percentage of cars that are on the roads here, but it is going
up. When I was looking at the economic specific for Nigeria, I wasn’t looking
at percentage, I was looking at products. Everyone here has got a cell phone.
Are
you saying we are going to have more brands coming from the US to connect with
Nigerian companies in order to penetrate the Nigerian market?
I’m certain
of it. As I was walking around from business to business today, I was asking
the American businesses, how was it? And it is not ‘how was it?’ on a grand
scale, it is ‘how was it?’ when you met that one individual company. A company
told me that they are 80 per cent sure that they would sign a contract. That’s
incredible. Most companies like to keep that information inside. But they were
happy about who they were meeting today, and it was only because both sides
knew that the essence of success was making sure that both sides are ready and
they were.
A
number of the companies on the visit seem to be more focused on energy, why?
It is
because there is an energy need here. It is an economy that is growing and the
energy need cannot keep up with the growth, and we know that is the sector that
is an opportunity for us. There is a need and it is one we can fill, and it is
not just oil and gas, it includes solar or any other new technology. We felt
that Nigeria is willing to listen to any new possibility.
What’s
your perception about the new government in place?
I can’t
speak about politics here; what I can tell you is that the people that I have
spoken to, the businesses here are very optimistic. Everyone we have spoken to
here, the partners seem to be extremely optimistic, and it’s optimism for the
right reason. It is creating the positive, free, open business environment that
will help American businesses come here.
No comments:
Post a Comment