The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has allowed nine companies to make their first exports, including Dangote Group, Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN), and Tolaram.
Hwani Industry Nigeria Limited, Le Look Nigeria Limited, Secure ID Limited, Avila Naturalle, Craft Methods Limited, and Ruchim Limited are among the other businesses that took advantage of the initial AfCFTA opportunity.
On Tuesday, July 16, Nigeria formally began intra-African commerce per the AfCFTA protocol, five years after formally ratifying the pact in Niamey, Niger.
Nigeria’s first shipment under the AfCFTA protocol and the official opening of the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) mark the country’s shift from preparing for trade under the agreement to actively encouraging firms to trade. The National Action Committee on the African Continental Free Trade Area states that the goal of the GTI is to match companies and products for import and export in order to promote commercially significant trade among state parties that have complied with the agreement’s minimum trade requirements.
With 1.3 billion people living in the AfCFTA, the world’s largest trade area with a combined GDP of over $3.4 trillion, the exports have ushered in a new era of trade and wealth for Nigeria.
The nine Nigerian enterprises combined their made-in-Nigeria goods and exported from Apapa Port to five nations in the sub-regions of East, central, and North Africa in order to initiate the first shipment under the AfCFTA protocol.
Le Look Nigeria Limited is the first company to get an AfCFTA Certificate of Origin, allowing companies to trade under the AfCFTA protocol. It is a Nigerian business that was started by female entrepreneur Chinwe Ezenwa, who specializes in bag production.
Le Look Nigeria Limited shipped bags to Kenya as part of the inaugural AfCFTA consignment.
She claims that producers of Nigerian goods are already expanding around the area and that because of the GTI under the AfCFTA protocol, Nigerians must be robust, creative, and consistent without relying on the government.
Compared to European and American markets, she claimed it is simpler to enter the Kenyan, Rwandan, Ethiopian, and Ghanaian markets.
“The markets in these nations are massive because they do not have many industries, and Nigeria’s large population provides them a comparative edge in benefiting from the AfCFTA trading area. All we have to do is create more productive work hours for our staff,” Ezenwa stated.
Nigerian business Secure ID Limited, which exported smart cards to Cameroon, was the second to seize the chance presented by the continental trade pact.
Group managing director Kofo Akinkugbe, a Nigerian technology entrepreneur, is in charge of SecureID.
Clinkers were shipped by Dangote Group to Cameroon. The richest man in Africa owns the firm and a $20 billion refinery in Lekki, Lagos, with a capacity of 650,000.
Avila Naturalle, which supplied Kenya with shea butter and black soap produced in Nigeria, is another gainer. Temitope Mayegun is the company’s owner. She began with thirty thousand worth of coconut oil and has now expanded to include over four hundred products in the categories of cosmetics, meals & supplements, water & drinks, and fashion.
In the same vein, FMN supplied Algeria with local starch. Omoboyede Olusanya is the manager of the diversified conglomerate Apapa, situated in Lagos. The chairman of its board is John G. Coumantaros.
Egypt received wrappers exported by Tolaram Group. Diageo’s 58.02 percent stake in Guinness Nigeria is being acquired by Tolaram, the manufacturer of Indomie Instant Noodles.
Furthermore, Hwani Industry Nigeria Limited sent Nigerian-manufactured water closet sanitary systems to Kenya, and Ruchim Limited exported bank cards and SIM cards created in Nigeria. In 2021, Hwani was established.
On the fringes of the inauguration, Olusegun Awolowo, national coordinator of the National AfCFTA Coordination Office, told BusinessDay that Nigeria is prepared to engage in official commerce with nations outside of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
According to him, the aforementioned nations have enrolled in the GTI, and the plan will illustrate how long it will take for the items to reach their intended destinations.
He asserts that Nigeria will need a considerable amount of time to implement and evaluate each protocol in the AfCFTA agreement.
Due to the high calibre of our products, numerous Nigerian businesses would be preparing to take advantage of this opportunity as the inauguration approaches. The sight of sanitary closets and bags manufactured in Nigeria was astounding.
“In order to effectively compete and dominate Africa, we must raise our level of productivity, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing,” stated Awolowo.
Giving an example, Ezenwa, who was previously mentioned, said that the AfCFTA office visited her business and saw that while 20% of the raw materials, such as zip, are imported, the fabrics used to make Le Look bags, such as “Adire,” “Akwete,” and “Aso oke,” are sourced in Nigeria.
According to her, a Chinese-owned business can engage in AfCFTA trade, but first it must establish itself in Africa and make sure that eighty percent of its raw materials are obtained locally.
Stakeholders in the port sector have stated that Nigeria has to expedite its port procedures in order to increase the appeal of its exports to foreign consumers.
