Fidelity Bank supports CBN export sector initiative with EMP 15

Leading Financial Institution, Fidelity Bank Plc in partnership with Lagos Business School (LBS) hosted the 15th edition of its sustained Export Management Programme (EMP 15) 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 another stakeholder, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), is designed to equip entrepreneurs with the requisite knowledge for driving the country’s non-oil exports and to support the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in its export sector initiative.

Speaking on the five-day weeklong training programme in Lagos, Team Lead, Export and Agriculture Division, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Emmanuel Nwalor, noted that “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.”

According to Nwalor, “Nigeria is an agricultural commodities-based country with a lot of products like Cashew, 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.

“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, quality, among other parameters are to be put in high consideration to export agriculture commodities out of Nigeria.”

Emmanuel further noted that “exporting business is knowledge-intensive and requires a lot of skill to perform effectively and that is why Fidelity Bank is partnering with LBS to build adequate capacity for entrepreneurs which is required for them to be successful in the non-oil export business.

On his part, The Director of Executive Education, LBS, Mr. Victor Banjo, noted that, “EMP is one of the most laudable initiatives at LBS and all thanks to Fidelity Bank that came up with the concept and collaborated with us in putting in place an intervention that helps to tackle some of the challenges we’re facing today in Nigeria.

“With the coming together of LBS, Fidelity Bank and NEPC, I wonder why an entrepreneur will not want to be on this programme if he is serious about exporting quality agriculture products out of Nigeria,” She added.

One of the participants and beneficiaries of the programme, Mr. Dahiru Usman, Founder of an investment company based in Abuja noted that, “EMP 15 has exposed him to processes involved in the export of agriculture commodities and with the personal experience of each facilitator and the warehouses visited during the program, my skills has been further horned in the export business line,” he stated.