Experts set to unveil Nnewi’s potentials as Nigeria’s industrial hub

As part of efforts to draw attention to the economic opportunities in some of the country’s industrial clusters, as well as promote the ‘Made in Nigeria’ mindset, a group of experts and industrialists are putting together an investment summit for Nnewi manufacturing hub.

The investment summit, which holds on February 6 and 7 in Nnewi, Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria, is being pioneered by leading marketing communications agencies, TBWA\Concept Unit and C & F Porter Novelli.
The summit, titled, “Revitalising the Manufacturing Hub of Africa,” is designed to leverage the already thriving industrial and commercial activities in Nnewi and harness them for the wider economic development of Nigeria.

Experts expected to lead the conversations at the inaugural edition of the summit are former presidential candidate, Prof Kingsley Moghalu; the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Afrinvest Limited, Ike Chioke, and the West African Regional Director of Ford Foundation, Mr Innocent Chukwuma.
Speaking about the Summit, TBWA\Concept Units CEO, Mr Kelechi Nwosu, said Nnewi industrial hub has a strong narrative that should be developed and promoted to serve as a model for economic growth in Anambra State and Nigeria in general.
He described Nnewi as a unique town where young entrepreneurs and artisans with limited formal education exploit their wit to create amazing stories of manufacturing and industrialisation in Nigeria.
“The overall agenda of the summit is to draw stakeholders’ attention to the benefits of revitalising and rebranding Nnewi as an industrial hub in Africa by leveraging on its past glory and current potentials. We equally expect this summit to also serve as the starting point for the formation of alliances, which will ensure a blended approach in the creation of an intervention programme that will involve policymakers, private investors and philanthropists,” Nwosu stated.

The two-day summit envisioned to drive the growth agenda for young indigenous businesses by outlining how they can scale with the right exposure, branding and capacity building projects, is being sponsored by the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Nnewi Chamber of Commerce and Industries and Anambra Broadcasting Service.
Also speaking about the summit, Chairman of C & F Porter Novelli, Chief Nnaemeka Maduegbuna, said the event would be important in fostering collaboration among businesses to increase comparative advantage within Nnewi and its environs.

While raising expectations that the summit will attract foreign and local investors who will create jobs and have impacts on businesses in Nnewi and Nigeria at large, Maduegbuna said it would also sensitise and create awareness for a new way of thinking. This, he said, would create opportunities for young men and women within and outside the region, while also generating better quality and quantity employment opportunities for young people and women through entrepreneurial activity and direct employment.

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