…Nigeria Fashion-tech set to launch banana fiber textiles for ‘Aso Oke’.

By Omolola Dede Adeyanju

The Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office has unraveled the final validated market access guide and E-commerce platform for women and youths in businesses. These tools aim to support businesses to understand market entry requirements for products identified in a previous study, as well as granting their products visibility and buyer-seller matchmaking through the e-commerce platform.

This was communicated at the Final Validation of these tools, an event organised by the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, with the Support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), on Thursday 13th, in Ikeja- Lagos, with the theme: Enhancing the competitiveness of Women and Youth in the AFCFTA.

According to the representative from the Nigeria AFCFTA Coordination office, Ms. Achimugu Franca, while expressing the commitment of the National coordinator, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo towards Nigerian businesses to export under AfCFTA framework. She stated that the Market Access Guide and E-commerce platform project were commissioned from efforts made by the office to help women and youths gain easy access and compete better at AFCFTA. The body hence, has “a major coordinate the implementation activities of MDAs and private sector stakeholders, towards the full realization for the benefits of the AfCFTA for Nigeria.

She established that the AFCFTA supports MSMEs with needed information relevant to trading within the African market space and that the project was in three tiers-.

First to conduct a study to identify 10 top traded products by women and youth in order to provide a clear understanding of the most economically significant products traded by them and provide deep market insights to support market development; secondly- to develop a step by step market access guide for these identified products to help gain access into the market; The third tier was to create the E-commerce platform which aids to give visibility to 10 products, to provide match making between vendors and finally to carry out practical trade. “This does not in any way imply that other products are not significant, but provides a foundation on which other priorities can be built” she noted.

Ms Franca further explained, “In terms of standards, documentation, logistics, payment and other trade requirements for exporters, other agencies are responsible for them. Hence, the need to integrate them in the conversations to ensure the platform can deliver what it is intended to, bearing in mind the imminent launch of the single window.

In view of Nigeria’s AFCFTA strategy, she established that product prioritization, capacity development on competitive production, providing trade information, forming business linkages, development of SEZs amongst others, have been identified as interventions necessary for implementing the AfCFTA in Nigeria; which has conceived the project.

However, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)’s representative, Mamoudou Sebego while evaluating the focus of the workshop, enumerated the expediency of access to intra African market as well as the criteria for a product to qualify for exportation which is majorly based on quality, quantity and standard. In respect to the E-commerce platform, he said, “The platform is divided into four major sections- The first is like an advert section while the second is a link between sellers and buyers. The third section is to have a database of products, quantity, etc and the fourth for payment which is very crucial because we can not sell in the traditional method if we want to reach a vast number of buyers.

“The first stakeholders workshop we had in December was to review the zero draft of the platform. Now we have addressed all issues that were discussed and the platform is ready for use. One can gain access but cannot use it currently to sell goods yet. The only challenge that can be encountered is from the fact that there are a lot of procedures and protocols that must be sorted for payment, this is not in the capacity of UNECA but Nigeria” he stated.

Also, In view of the collaboration with AFCFTA, Mr Sebego elucidated UNECA’s support for the technical procedures for trade in African free trade area. He stated that he is in contact with the chairman, ASBON to provide technical support for member state, on how to upgrade the value of their products to make them more competitive, they partner with AFREXIM bank and others to also empower in finance to mobilize partners to financially support member states after the technical support has been realized. “We will remain supportive to all stakeholders to ensure that the platform begins to run effectively” he assured.

Meanwhile, the Women Coordinator, Association for Small Business Owners in Nigeria, ASBON, Mrs Adepetu Margaret examined the level of quality products emerging from Nigeria, stating that Nigerian products can compete anywhere globally. However, the production cost has been a major set back as it is heavy and has made her experienced challenges from pricing which discourages intra African trading and reduces competitiveness.

As regards ABSON and the effect of the AFCFTA Women and Youths workshop, Mrs Adepetu said, “We are almost 300 in Lagos state and today’s workshop has been very impactful so we will ensure a balance in communication for members to understand and have a vast idea on the the experience of the platform” she guaranteed.

Furthermore, the President for women in fashion-tech, Mrs Bukola Ajani addressed the importance of the Single Window system for AFCFTA. With the documentation processes for exportation and importation which used to be very tedious, she noted that it has been made easier.

Also, in line with the innovations in the Fashion-tech industry of Nigeria, the President disclosed the invention of banana fiber now being used for the textiles for ‘Aso Oke’. “We have been working on this for years and we just concluded it. When we launch it, pricing won’t be a problem since we own the raw materials. We must be in control of our fashion industry as Nigerian materials as it is, are being accepted globally now.

In addition, The National President, Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT), Nigeria, Mrs Blessing Irabor, examined OWIT as a platform raising women globally to trade and compete in the international market space. “Although, exportation has not been easy due to the cumbersome dollar rate, naira fluctuation, standards and regulations but we have trained our women to understand what it means to abide by the best practices, and our women have been able to navigate the challenges in exportation and are thriving in their respective businesses.

Mrs Irabor commended the E-commerce platform, saying, “It will serve as a due diligence platform for women to trade, secondly it will give us the free publicity for people to see our products. This e-commerce platform will be tied to other different platforms. If you know the AFREXIM itself is a due diligence platform, we will be leveraging some of those platforms. The payment system is something that will help the women extensively. You can easily receive your money from other countries in naira using the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPPS) platform.

In review of the AFCFTA market access guide, the guide exposes women and youth traders to important tools of AFCFTA such as; E-Tariff book, AFCFTA rules of origin manual, AFCFTA online mechanism for reporting non-tariff barriers, the newly launched Pan-african payment and settlement system (PAPSS) and the africa visa openness report.

It also indicate the guidelines for exporters or agents for exporting under the AFCFTA and expresses Nigeria participation in trading under the GTI of AFCFTA, the top twelve products shaowcased are; Ready to wear clothings, Garri, Shea butter, spices, palmoil, dried fish, beans flour, black soap, ginger powder handicrafts, kulikuli and yam flour.

Meanwhile, the core technical architecture on the E-commerce platform are; frontend: React.js with Tailwind CSS designed responsively for web and mobile; Backend: fast API (Python) with restful APIs; Database: PostgreSQL for structured data storage; Infrastructure: Cloudbased (AWS/Azure) using Docker and Kubernetes; Security: OAuth 2.0 with JWT authentication, SSL/TLS encryption.

Also present on the platform are User Management and KYC key features, trading features and multi platform capabilities. It also emphasizes scalability through microservices architecture and includes robust security measures such as data encryptions and regular penetration testing. This implementation focuses on creating a secure user friendly marketplace that addresses the specific needs of African trade while maintaining international standards for e-commerce platforms.

The Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, represented by Ms. Achimugu Franca expressed the commitment of the National coordinator, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo towards supporting Nigerian businesses to export under AfCFTA framework. She made it known that these tools were one of several efforts by the coordination office in ensuring that businesses make the most out of the AfCFTA.