The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has trained youths on the rudimentary processes and gains of the non-oil export business.
Our correspondent reports that the training took place in Owerri, on Thursday.
The Imo Coordinator of the NEPC, Mr Anthony Ajuruchi, said that the training was aimed at equipping youth exporters and intending ones with the requisite skills for export trade.
Ajuruchi spoke on the theme: Unlocking the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) for Non-Oil Export Growth in Imo State.
He said that youths venturing into the export market would need to be acquainted with the expanded market space and enhanced conditions of trading within the African market space, hence the seminar.
“ The country’s first shipment under the AfCFTA protocol was done in January, to Kenya, indicating that with Nigeria’s population, especially her youth population strength, abundant opportunities await “, he said.
He called on students to plan ahead before they graduate, register their businesses and embrace the export trade rather than waiting for white collar jobs.
He also expressed the NEPC’s willingness to hear the challenges faced by youth exporters and provide needed interventions.
Also speaking, Mr Francis Duru, the Cluster Head, Sales Organisation Team of Sterling Bank in Owerri, said that the bank would offer incentives such as zero account maintenance fee to exporters who would be willing to open business accounts with the institution.
One of the youth exporters, Mr Henry Iwundu, a fourth year student of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, said he already owned hectares of farmland in his Umuohiagu, Ngor Okpala ancestral home, and expressed readiness to export.
Iwundu, a bee farmer and producer of pepper, cassava and cereals, thanked the NEPC for the knowledge of business registration to formalize his exports.
“ I own bee hives and I produce honey, wax, propolis and other hive extracts, so I am glad for this opportunity to formalize my business before my graduation and fully join the export business “, he said.