Ease of doing business takes center stage at Made-In-Nigeria Festival

In line with the quest to make Nigeria a favoured destination for foreign direct investments, organizers of the Made-In-Nigeria (MaIN) Festival, are putting together activities to promote the ease of doing business in Nigeria on the front burner of discourse.


These and many other subjects would form the basis of a special: “Ease of Doing Business session” that will take place at the Made In Nigeria (MaIN) Summit – a component of MaIN Festival taking place from September 23rd – October 1st, 2016 at Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island, Lagos. Over 600 delegates are billed to attend the summit that would run from September 26-29.

The session, which seeks to promote the ease of doing business in Nigeria, would feature updates from various agencies and local, state and federal government functionaries, while providing a platform for the private sector to share their experiences. A special investment desk and one-stop-shop will also be provided for intending investors to obtain information, documentation and advice on establishing or expanding their businesses in Nigeria.

Underscoring the need to promote and sustain initiatives that would ensure the ease of doing business in Nigeria, MaIN Group – organizers of MaIN Festival – in a statement, revealed:

 “Economic development, growth and prosperity can only occur where there is an environment that supports both foreign and domestic investment.”

These investments, it added:

“are expected to occur in a hyper-competitive global economic environment where countries and their citizens compete for limited resources available to investors. Naturally, investors will most likely gravitate towards those economies that offer them the best value for money and economies that are backed by well researched legislation, policies as well as strong and transparent institutions.  

“The policies that make it easy for people to transact their legitimate business without hassle or political interference are perhaps the greatest indicator that a country is ready and open to growing its economy.”

Nigeria, the MaIN Group noted, currently ranks 169 in the index of doing business in the world, with Rwanda taking the top berth in Africa. The group commended the current administration for taking concrete steps to address the issue.

“Since the advent of this new administration, various steps have been taken to reduce the bottlenecks and challenges foreign and domestic investors face with doing business in Nigeria,” it observed. Nonetheless, it stressed, a great deal, still has to be done to improve investor confidence in Nigeria’s economy and drive the kinds of investments that would radically transform the nation’s economic fortunes.

With the theme: “Innovate. Connect. Power The Future”, MaIN Festival, is an international festival of ideas, designed to stimulate the economy and bring the world to Nigeria to explore and engage the best it has to offer – in five key sectors. They are: Power & Infrastructure, Agriculture, Technology, Manufacturing and Sports & Entertainment.

The Made In Nigeria Festival is being organized by the MaIN Group, a collaboration of private sector organisations. Board of Advisors of the initiative include: Prince Adesegun Oniru, Mr. Aliko Dangote, Dr. (Mrs.) Stella Okoli, Mr. Ronald Chagoury, and Senator Oluremi Tinubu.