Post by Trade facilitator on Feb 26, 2017 17:30:09 GMT 1
SUPPORT FOR LOCAL INITIATIVES, BEST WAY TO ENHANCE CAPACITY BUILDING IN NIGERIA
Few months ago, the media was awash with the news of the planned arrival of Walmart stores(a popular retail shop currently making waves in many parts of the world) in Lagos. There was also a growing optimism that the retail firm will absorb some of the jobless youths currently roaming the street of Lagos.
However, other members of the global economic community believed that it is the other way round as they argued that most of the foreign retail businesses in Nigeria are trooping into the country because they somehow found the nation’s population and market sophistication irresistible.
Within the African business community, Nigeria is tipped to be the last frontier for proper growth, which is why global attention is focused on Nigeria, the most populous country in the continent.
With an estimated 170 million population and huge market, the fact is foreign investors can no longer ignore the huge investment opportunities in Nigeria, considering the fact that most consumers are brand loyal and discerning; they value good services and products. These, perhaps, explain why many foreign retailers see Nigeria as the investment destination of choice.
Expectedly, the invasion of the foreign retailers has rubbed off the local economy. Apart from continuously investing more capital into their businesses, which contributes immensely to the growth of the local economy, the investors have also been contributing greatly to employment generation across the country. Most of their businesses are run by Nigerians.
Today, we are witnessing the penetration of South-African-owned retailers like Shoprite, Game Stores, PEP and Massmart into many parts of the country. But the question is, to what extent have they been able to meet the yearnings of the Nigerian consumers and members of their areas of operation?
However, it is believed that if local operators are given same treatment being given foreign retail firms, sufficient capacity building would have been achieved. It should also be noted that the coming of foreign operators has put local retail business under serious pressure.
However, Nigerian businesses have a long way to go. In the rest of the world, especially in a place like India, you don’t see foreigners taking over retail space or partaking in scalable or robust retail business due to security concerns because retail is something that touches everybody and it’s a massive generation of employment. But what we have seen in Nigeria, is the proliferation of foreign retail concepts dominating our retail space which to me is wrong.
It will be recalled that the nation’s banking industry used to be dominated by foreign companies and eventually, Nigeria was able to enter the industry because retail from afar looks quite simple, but it is very detail.
