NEPC Targets Women, Youths, Farmers In Fresh Push For Global Markets

For decades, Nigeria’s economic fortunes have been closely tied to crude oil, leaving the country vulnerable to fluctuations in global commodity prices and persistent pressure on foreign exchange earnings.

But beyond the oil wells and export terminals lies another economy with significant potential: one driven by agriculture, manufacturing, small businesses, digital commerce, skills and millions of entrepreneurs seeking access to markets beyond Nigeria.

At the centre of this emerging export story is the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), which is intensifying efforts to expand the country’s non-oil export base, with women, youths, farmers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) increasingly positioned as critical players.

The Council, established in 1976 as the Federal Government’s apex institution for promoting non-oil exports, is pursuing a strategy that combines access to finance, capacity building, certification, market linkages, skills development and participation in international trade fairs.

The objective is straightforward: move more Nigerian products from local markets to global shelves while creating jobs, generating foreign exchange and supporting economic diversification.

One of the most significant components of this strategy is the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund, a $50m initiative launched in 2024 by the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to help women-led businesses in developing countries participate more effectively in international trade through digital tools.

Nigeria’s role in the initiative is particularly significant. The NEPC was selected as the only African Business Support Organisation to implement the WEIDE Fund, emerging from 610 applications globally.

The Council subsequently mobilised more than 68,000 applications from women-led businesses across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones and multiple sectors.

From this pool, 146 women-led MSMEs were selected for grant support under the first phase.
The scale of participation offers a glimpse into the size of the entrepreneurial base seeking opportunities in international markets. It also demonstrates that the challenge facing many Nigerian businesses may not be a lack of entrepreneurial energy, but access to the capital, knowledge, standards and market connections required to compete globally.

The WEIDE Fund is structured around two grant categories. The Discovery Grant provides $5,000 to micro and small women-led enterprises with export potential, while the Booster Grant offers $30,000 to exporting or export-ready women-led businesses.

The support goes beyond simply handing businesses money.
Beneficiaries are required to undergo digital and financial training, coaching, business clinics and other learning programmes designed to improve their ability to operate in international markets.

The programme also supports the establishment of e-commerce stores, pricing models, logistics and customer service channels, while creating opportunities for businesses to connect with global e-commerce platforms and digital service providers.

This approach reflects a growing understanding of what it takes to turn an entrepreneurial venture into a sustainable export business.
A business may have a good product, but without appropriate certification, reliable logistics, digital visibility, competitive pricing and knowledge of export procedures, accessing foreign markets can remain difficult.

For Nigerian women entrepreneurs, many of whom operate within the MSME space, bridging these gaps could determine whether their businesses remain domestic enterprises or become exporters.

The Council’s intervention is, however, not limited to women.
Youths are also at the heart of its strategy to build a new generation of exporters.

Through the Export Skills Acquisition Centre (ESAC) in Apapa, Lagos, the Council is targeting more than 1,000 young people and women annually for training in garment and bag production.

The centre has been restructured and re-equipped to support mass production for African and international markets while also supplying Nigerian distributors and retailers.

Under a public-private partnership arrangement, the facility is being managed by Lelook Nigeria Limited, with the target of training at least 1,000 youths and women each year.
The thinking behind the programme extends beyond skills acquisition. By connecting vocational training to production and export markets, the initiative seeks to create a pipeline through which young Nigerians can move from acquiring skills to producing commercially viable goods and ultimately participating in international trade.

The Council is also working with federal, state and local governments and other stakeholders to replicate similar centres across the country. Such interventions are particularly relevant in an economy where youth unemployment and underemployment remain major concerns and where job creation requires more than conventional public-sector employment.

The export sector offers an opportunity to create jobs across an entire value chain—from farming and processing to packaging, transportation, certification, marketing and international distribution.

Another initiative, the Export Mentorship Programme, is designed to address a different challenge: the knowledge gap confronting prospective exporters.

Many new businesses struggle to navigate export documentation, international standards, market requirements, financing and the practical realities of dealing with foreign buyers.

The programme therefore pairs prospective exporters with experienced exporters for practical handholding.
The pilot programme began with five performing exporters serving as mentors and 20 prospective exporters as mentees. Fifteen mentees successfully completed the programme and were set for graduation.

The Council has also initiated discussions with commercial banks to explore financing support for mentees under the guidance of their mentors.

The broader objective is to increase the number of performing Nigerian exporters while reducing the risks associated with entering international trade.

But producing goods for export is only one side of the equation. The products must also meet international standards.

Addressing this concern, the NEPC Executive Director/Chief Executive, Nonye Ayeni said an initiative known as the Go Global Go Certification was put in place.

Ayeni said the programme is designed to help MSME exporters, food processors, agro-product exporters and manufacturers meet global market requirements and access premium markets.

According to her, certification can determine whether a Nigerian product is accepted or rejected in foreign markets.

Under the initiative, she added that more than 305 exporters have undergone international certification processes covering areas such as the United States Food and Drug Administration requirements, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and Halal certification.

Another 567 exporters are currently undergoing certification.

She said, “The emphasis on certification is particularly important for agricultural and processed food exports, where non-compliance with safety and quality standards can result in rejected shipments, financial losses and reputational damage.

“The Council is also addressing export rejections through the STDF-845 project, a three-year initiative running from 2024 to 2027 and supported by the World Trade Organisation and International Trade Centre.

“The project focuses on reducing the rejection of Nigerian sesame and cowpea exports at international borders by improving compliance with maximum residue levels for pesticides and preventing contamination.

“It brings together government agencies, inspection bodies, industry associations and other stakeholders to strengthen Nigeria’s sanitary and phytosanitary systems.”

While women and youths represent important components of the strategy, Ayeni said farmers remain indispensable to the country’s export ambitions.

For instance, in Kebbi State, the Council is supporting a sesame cluster in partnership with the state government and the Federation of Commodities Association of Nigeria.

The pilot project covers more than 500 hectares in Tsamiya, Bagudo Local Government Area, and began with 152 farmers organised into cooperatives.

The farmers received support including high-quality seeds, tractors, organic inputs and market access.

The initiative has now attracted Starlink, a major agricultural commodities exporter, which has been invited to purchase the harvested sesame for onward export to Turkey.

The model demonstrates how export development can be taken beyond policy documents to the farm level by combining production support with guaranteed market opportunities.

Similar interventions have included the distribution of 4,633 hybrid seedlings to farmers across different parts of the country.

Oil palm seedlings were distributed to farmers in Kogi State, more than 2,000 cocoa seedlings were distributed in Akure, while groundnut seedlings went to eight communities in Gusau for cluster farming.

In Bayelsa State, 1,500 hybrid cocoa seedlings were distributed, while 1,100 coffee seedlings and 100 bags of organic fertiliser were provided to 148 coffee farmers in Plateau State.

Ayeni said the scale of these interventions reflects the Council’s attempt to strengthen the supply side of the export economy.

However, production alone cannot guarantee export growth. Nigerian exporters also need access to international buyers.

This, she added, explains the Council’s sustained participation in international trade fairs and business-to-business engagements.

Such engagements have taken Nigerian businesses to markets including Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, China and Algeria.

During a trade mission to Saudi Arabia, an agreement was signed with Saudi Arabia’s Halal Products Development Company, while trade agreements with Saudi distributors generated a projected $500m in export revenue.

At the 2025 Intra-African Trade Fair in Algiers, Algeria, the Council, in partnership with other agencies, supported the participation of 75 Nigerian SMEs.

The Nigerian pavilion won the award for Best Pavilion for Transacting Business, while participating businesses negotiated prospective export orders estimated at $110m across agro-processed commodities, cosmetics, shea butter, solid minerals, arts and crafts, textiles and apparel.

These engagements point to an important shift in export promotion—from simply showcasing Nigerian products to actively connecting businesses with buyers and commercial opportunities.

Capacity building remains another major pillar.

From 2023 to date, the Council says it has organised 1,983 capacity-building programmes covering export procedures and documentation, product development, market access, trade information, facilitation and export development.

The programmes attracted 215,156 participants across the country.

The figures underline the scale of the effort to build an export-ready business community.

There is also a focus on retirees through the Sustainable Opportunity for Active Retirement (SOAR) initiative, which seeks to train retired civil servants in export-related opportunities.

Participants are introduced to areas including commercial agriculture, processing, packaging, aggregation, export trading and export-support services, alongside training on export procedures, quality assurance, market access and financing.

Yet, perhaps one of the biggest challenges confronting Nigeria’s export ambitions is the size of informal cross-border trade.

Ayeni said the Council has identified 42 border markets and 44 loading points through which significant volumes of agricultural, mineral and manufactured products leave the country outside formal export channels.

Such informal trade, she added, deprives the country of accurate data and limits its ability to capture the full economic value of products already finding buyers across neighbouring countries.

“ltimately, Nigeria’s export challenge is not simply about producing more goods. It is about building an ecosystem in which entrepreneurs can access finance, acquire skills, meet international standards, connect with buyers and scale production.

“Women-owned businesses, young entrepreneurs, farmers and MSMEs could become central to that transformation. The ambition is to move Nigeria from a country known primarily for exporting crude oil and raw commodities to one capable of competing with finished and value-added products across global markets,” she added.

It is an economy where the next major export success may not come from an oil field, but from a farm, factory, workshop, digital platform or small business—powered by Nigerians seeking to take their products to the world.