The mission, which will visit Lagos in Nigeria and Accra in Ghana, gives small and medium sized businesses the opportunity to meet prospective clients as well as business organisations in both countries.
Africa has the fastest-growing middle class in the world, set to grow to 1.1 billion by 2060. Seven of the 10 fastest growing in the world are in Africa. Nigeria is one of the fastest growing countries in Africa and it is estimated that it will surpass South Africa as the continent’s largest economy by 2016.
The trip will coincide with UKTI’s export week, which is designed to help businesses export.
Commenting, Streatham MP & Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna said:
“The historic links and deep cultural ties between our large African Diaspora communities in the UK and the next generation of emerging economies in sub-Saharan Africa mean that we are uniquely placed to make the most of the strong economic growth from the region to boost African Diaspora businesses and entrepreneurs in the UK.
“Whilst a lot of emphasis is rightly put on the need to increase our exports to countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China, it is also crucial that we push to boost trade with the next generation of emerging economies which include a large number of countries in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to achieve a growth rate of over 5 per cent over the next two years and Africa’s middle class is forecast to grow to over 1 billion over the next five decades.
“Area’s like my constituency in South London have large African Diaspora communities that work incredibly hard and epitomize the increasingly diverse face of British business. These businesses need support from government that they don’t have at the moment, and there also needs to be wider recognition of the huge opportunity we in the UK have to work with the emerging African economies and more work done to realise that potential.
That’s why I am looking forward to leading this trade mission for UK businesses to Nigeria and Ghana. We want this trade mission to help build stronger links between the economies of West Africa and the UK, and I am determined to do whatever I can to help make that happen.”
Commenting, Chief Executive of the LCCI Colin Stanbridge said: “It is very clear that in order to drive growth we need to get companies exporting their products and services to a range of emerging markets. We need to be grasping opportunities in these markets and encouraging more companies to get involved in exporting.
“West Africa offers a huge market for British goods and I hope that the companies on our mission are able to make the most of all the opportunities on offer.”
