Producers of local products in Lagos State have been sensitised on how to access new markets through e-Commerce opportunities.
This was the highlight at a summit with the theme: “Business growth and accessing new markets through e-comerce opportunity” organised by Growth and Employment in States (GEMS4) programme in collaboration with Made In Nigeria (MIN) Global Consulting Service Limited in Lagos.
The summit brought Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) operators from various parts of the state to showcase their products.
Items including household utensils, packaged food items, clothes, cleaning products, handbags, beads and jewelleryamong many others were showcased by various SME operators at the event.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Made In Nigeria (MIN) Global Consulting, Aisha Bako, the summit was aimed to support low/middle income SME operators, especially those run by women with the marketing and promotion of their products.
Bako said the summit aimed at linking local producers of made- in-Nigeria goods to online platforms where their goods can be advertised and sold.
According to her, Made-in-Nigeria goods have been perceived as being of poor quality due to substandard packaging and lack of branding, but a lot has changed in recent times and standards are rapidly improving.
To improve the supply and demand for products by Nigerians, she said her organisation, MIN Global Consulting Services Limited (MIN), is working to create a network of e-commerce traders of Made-in-Nigeria goods. www.min9ja.com
She urged the MSME operators especially women to open email accounts to enable them register for sale of their goods on Made in Nigeria (MIN) website as well as register their products with the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control(NAFDAC) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) so that they can get buyers within and beyond the shores of Nigeria. “We want to clear the misconception that made in Nigeria goods are inferior,” she noted.
Apart from Mrs Bako, Aisha Lawal and Micah Mendie of MIN and GEMS4 facilitated the event.
During the summit, participants were informed of benefits and opportunities the women and E-commerce initiative will deliver to women. Small business owners had the opportunity to interact with stakeholders as they relate to their various businesses, especially the legal and regulatory agencies.
At the event, some SMEs registered as vendors on the MIN platform www.min9ja.com.