Newsletter by Toyin Umesiri - Nazaru CEO

  “By creating one African market, we are transforming the African landscape by creating a large market of 1.27 billion people (expected to be 1.7 billion in the next eleven years) with a growing middle class of 350 million (which is projected to reach 600 million by 2030). This provides an opportunity for economies of scale, large scale and long term investments. Arising from this, the basic incentive for businesses operating in the AfCFTA is that they will face huge and attractive opportunities”.  H.E.  Ambassador Albert Muchanga , Commissioner for Trade and Industries at the African Union (AU). Speaking at TWA Summit Read previously released press release below Following a successful launch of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), H.E. Ambassador Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry was presented with the  Champion of Trade Award  at the 2nd edition of the Trade with Africa Business Summit in Chicago. The  T...

  I am excited to share with you the latest updates regarding the upcoming 2nd edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021). I have been invited to speak there on Wednesday November 17th. In 2018, during the first edition, I served in capacity as Active Ambassador and had the honor of facilitating activation events for the team. For those who may not be familiar with the IATF, let me say it is were the Whos Whos across the continent meet to actualize the  African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) . It is an initiative driven by the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) in partnership with the African Union (AU) and Kigali, Rwanda was originally selected to host this year's event but shifts had to be made recently. A copy of the Press Release shared with me yesterday is below. It reflects both the location and date changes. --------  Cairo/Durban/Addis Ababa/Accra, 5 July 2021:- The second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) has been rescheduled to take pl...

  Sometimes I wonder why Wealth Creation was not more prioritized across Africa.... Let me also share that  Foreign Aid  was never designed to create wealth for African People as a whole but  Foreign Trade  will! Yes, I know a few would continue to benefit from Foreign Aid - no doubt - but the main question is that at what point would it magically transform the landscape? If it would - it should have... with the amount already targeted towards the continent things should not be where they are today - right? These are some of the topics I covered in detail in my  Africa Trade and Investment Facilitation Masterclass  ( available to members of Nazaru's African Business Network here -  www.nazaru.trade ). In this 3-hour Masterclass I focused heavily on wealth creation, capturing trade opportunities, navigating and monitoring trade and investment policies, engaging with stakeholders and more. In one of the sessions, I also dived deep into differences b...

  -- It is 2016 and I am on a video conference call with one of my mentors out of Cambodia. At the time she had responsibilities for exports into U.S. from Vietnam and Cambodia. She said to me: "Toyin what you are saying about Africa is interesting to me and reminds me of our own story. After the war in Vietnam, we were closed off from the international market and we owed money to the old Soviet and we had to manufacture military uniforms to pay our national debt. After the trade embargo was lifted, we found we had all the capabilities to manufacture textile for the rest of the world. I and others began traveling the world to establish trade relations and securing manufacturing contracts. No one wanted to invest in us at the beginning - those who took the risk are now billionaires and they own and run this market. Africa is in a better shape than we were. Go there and if you need funds for a project you see - tell me I will help you raise the funds. It takes only about $2.5 millio...

  Building a successful business is always a game of wits. Those who win find ways to outsmart their customers On the new live series, I launched called   ASK TOYIN , I have been filtering and answering various questions submitted from around the world. One of those questions this week was on understanding why customers do not like paying for services that they actually know that they need. Here is a general summary of my response: As a business owner you must realize that nobody owes you a dime.   The arrogance we sometimes employ thinking that just because we consider our product or service to be the best and is an excuse for us not to do the work of crafting a compelling reason for anyone to buy is one of the limiting factors in building a successful business. An entitlement attitude towards your customer and the community you wish to serve will not reward you. Every business owner must understand this truth. We all love free things so why pay when we can get it for fr...

  Ambassador Albert Muchanga is African Union (AU) Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining. In addition to these broad areas, his portfolio also covers:  tourism ,  investment ,  innovation ,  entrepreneurship ,  economic integration ,  economic policies and research ,  statistics  and  oil and gas . He was formerly Commissioner for Trade and Industry. In this position, he provided strategic leadership in facilitating  negotiation ,  conclusion  and  ratification  of the Agreement Establishing the  African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) , which entered into force on May 30th, 2019 and whose start of trading was launched on January 1st, 2021. I had the honor of hosting Ambassador Muchanga again this year at the 4th edition of the  Trade with Africa Business Summit . Watch his keynote address below. To access more resources, market insights, and to network join our Africa B...