NEPC wins big at the 2018 World Trade Promotion Organisations Awards
NEPC has won the award for the Best initiative to ensure that trade is inclusive and sustainable. The nominated countries in the ‘Best initiative to ensure that trade is inclusive and sustainable category’ were Mauritius, Mongolia, Nigeria and Peru.
The Executive Director of ITC Ms Arancha González, made the announcement during the Gala evening and WTPO 2018 Awards presentation ceremony. She stated that the participating Trade Promotion Organisations who responded to ITC’s invitation to compete for the awards went through a two-step rigorous assessment process, which was completely independent of the ITC. Receiving the award on behalf of NEPC, Mr Olusegun Awolowo the Executive Director/CEO of NEPC said he was humbled by the accomplishment. It is the first time NEPC will receive a World Trade Promotion Organisations award.
Mr Awolowo who received the Award in the company of the Nigerian Ambassador to France, Her Excellency Dr Modupe Irele and the Chief Executive of Business France, Mr Christophe Lecourtier, thanked ITC for all the support to NEPC and all other TPOs and also commended the Netherlands CBI for its partnership on the ‘Zero to Export’ initiative. Finally, he thanked the NEPC team for their contribution
The winning initiative:
NEPC entered the competition with its Zero to Export initiative. The ‘Zero to Export’ initiative trains exporters on the export process, provides advice on products and markets, and enhances their marketing and management skills. The initiative has trained 560 individuals and companies
Interested in knowing more about the initiative visit our Zero to Export training page
The Impact
The initiative has achieved remarkable results which include €22 million in potential sales to the European market where Nigerian companies had not previously been successful. New products exported by SMEs with value of more that $30M, 10 new partnership alliances by SMEs while partnerships with three financial institutions on the project raised $1.3 million of working capital for the exporters. New exports valued at $30 million per year which included ginger, cashew kernels, cocoa products, hibiscus, sesame seeds, columbite for use in alloys, monalite for use in engineering and zircon were also developed.
Interested in reading more about our Nigerian export products, visit our market information
The WTPO Awards
The WTPO Awards is open to all national trade promotion organizations (TPOs). It is designed to recognise and celebrate TPOs that excel in innovative and effective practices in export-development initiatives. According to ITC, the winning organizations have to show that they helped micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to become competitive in international markets. This year, the Awards jury included senior TPO representatives from the 2016 award winners.
Other WTPO 2018 Award winning countries are Ghana, for the Best use of Information Technology and Qatar Development Bank for the Best use of a Partnership. While Egypt, Mongolia, Switzerland and South Korea received Awards of Recognition.
Ms González congratulated the winners for their outstanding initiatives and also commended all participants for their dynamic entries. She disclosed the 11 organisations nominated for this year’s awards as Austria, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nigeria, State of Palestine, Peru, Qatar, Republic of Korea and Switzerland. For more information about the event visit the TPO Network website
