What are the opportunities for Irish companies?
Nigerians are a very welcoming people with significant goodwill towards Ireland. Irish companies and brands have been active in the Nigerian market for many years. Several industry leaders were educated by Irish missionaries or studied in Ireland's third level institutions. In 2013, Irish exports to Nigeria were just over €323m. By 2014, Irish exports rose to €339m. The 2015 statistics shows that Nigeria was Ireland's largest trade partner in Africa, with total trade worth almost €431m. Ireland aims to increase exports to Nigeria by 60% to €545m by 2018. Principal merchandise exports are miscellaneous edible products and preparations (including inputs for Guinness), fish and milk powder. In 2015, Nigeria was the top recipient of Irish sea food exports to non-EU countries, representing 46% of the 49,305 tonnes of fish exported from the country.
The main sectors represented by Irish companies in Nigeria are food & drinks, financial services, ICT, education, construction and engineering. Approximately 70 Enterprise Ireland client companies are currently active in the Nigerian market. Some of the more prominent growth sectors with opportunities for Irish companies are:
- Internet and telecoms: The total number of active telephone lines in Nigeria stood at 149.24m at the end of Q1 2017, according to recent data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Sector leader MTN Nigeria continues to dominate the Nigerian telecoms market, followed by Globacom, Airtel, and Etisalat. Nigeria is Africa's leading ecommerce market and the largest internet market on the continent as well. There has been a steady increase in the adoption of mobile and internet banking solutions in the country. It is projected that the number of internet users will grow from 69.1 million in 2016 to 93 million in 2019. At the moment, internet penetration is estimated at 53%. Creating coverage and bringing value-added services is a major challenge/opportunity but Irish companies already active in the communications sector.
- Financial services: Nigeria has some of the continent's largest banks by assets, including Zenith, First Bank, GT Bank, UBA and Standard Chartered Bank. Zenith Bank, GT Bank are listed in London and dominate in the wider West Africa region. While the sector is well regulated, only 28.6 million adults, representing 32.5% of the population have bank accounts. Cashless applications, mobile banking and software in general are in high demand by the leading banks.
- Construction: According to Oxford Economics, Nigeria is in the top 3 of the biggest construction markets in the world. Continued growth in oil and gas, hospitality, retail and power sectors will drive demand for construction activities. Nigeria currently needs 20 million new houses, as well as commercial constructions and large-scale infrastructure projects including around the major airports.
- Education & training: factors including insufficient capacity leads to opportunities for Irish educational institutions interested in establishing in Nigeria or in attracting Nigerian students to Ireland. Significant opportunities also exist in vocational training, an area in which Irish companies excel.
- Other sectors with great potential include health care, mining, logistics, oil & gas, hospitality and power.