SME Exporter’s Challenges: Suggested Solutions I

• Inadequate flexible and SME export friendly financial Institutions.
• Dominance of the Asians and other foreigner with large financial muscles in the Nigerian export business.

Suggested Solutions- Government should make laws to encourage the establishment of specialized banks that will only finance export transactions. These laws should allow private individuals to establish export focussed banks and Government should own and contribute 50% of these banks capitalization so as to have a good control over its operations and thus enable the government to achieve her dreams of growing the SME exporters. The law should stipulate the following among other things:

a)    The export banks are to finance only export transactions and any financing done outside this should be penalized.

b)    The export banks should offer trade finance products like Export Credit guarantee, Export Credit Insurance, Factoring, Forfaiting, Invoice discounting etc.

c)     The interest rate on the export financing facilities from this bank should be set by the Central Bank and should be lower than the prevailing rate in the market at any point in time.

d)    The export banks should be given tax holiday to enable them maximizing profit.

e)    Government should reward any of the export banks that have the highest export finance facility portfolio at the end of each financial year.

f)     The export banks should offer both pre and post export financing to exporters.

g)    The banks should only finance SME exporting companies or cooperatives with at least 6 month experience in the business and with Bill of lading records of export and evidence of receipt of export proceeds from the buyers abroad.

h)    The banks should only finance SME exporting companies that are owned 100% by Nigerians

i)      The export bank should have a warehouse where all the products that they are financing are inspected to ascertain the quality before they are exported.

j)     The export bank should grant export facility that is as low as 1 Million Naira and as high as 50 Million Naira

k)    The goods should be used as collateral for post shipment financing while equity contribution of 30-50% must be a pre-requisite for pre-shipment financing.

l)     The export financing facilities from the export bank should cover the export of solid minerals and agricultural commodities, semi-processed products and finished goods.

m)   The export bank financing facility should only be granted to export transactions with Letter of Credit that is confirmed by a reputable Bank, Sight Bill for Collection and tenored Bill with Avalised Bill of Exchange.

THE CHALLENGES OF SME EXPORTERS IN NIGERIA

THE CHALLENGES OF SME EXPORTERS IN NIGERIA

1. Inadequate flexible and SME export friendly financial Institutions.
2. Dominance of the Asian with large financial muscles in the Nigerian Export business.
3. Inadequate infrastructure to control product quality.
4. Reluctance of buyers to import from Nigeria due to Nigeria’s bad reputation of the qualities of Nigerian products in the export market.
5. Reluctance of buyer to accept a secured payment terms and method like confirmed LC.
6. The incompetency and unprofessional attitude of some inspection agents.
7. Lack of dependable source of local product prices and supplier information.
8. Inadequate information on the possibility of exporting perishable commodities from Nigeria.
9. Too many players in the product supply chain.
10. Fraudsters in the product supply chain.
11. No functional exchange platform to facilitate product sourcing.
12. Delay and Risk of Haulage due to bad roads.

RULES FOR QUALITY CONTROL IN COMMODITY PROCUREMENT

1. Know the quality specifications of the buyer before embarking on Commodity procurement.

2. Understand how to do a random check to confirm the quality specifications as stipulated by the buyer.

3. Pour out all the content of the randomly selected bags to draw your samples or rather take your samples from the middle or base of each bag.

4. If quality cannot be determined visually or by a simpler means, do a lab analysis on the sample drawn before payment.

5. Sort the Commodities and separate the bad ones in order to determine the right quantity before payment

6. Ensure that the hired trucks have a back cover to protect the Commodities in transit.

7. If the commodity is solid minerals avoid sands, overburden (unwanted stones) and any other impurities to ensure good quality.

EXPORT INFORMATION SERVICE ADVERT

3T IMPEX EXPORT INFORMATION SERVICE

 

The Export Information Service (EIS) offered by 3T Impex enables both intending and existing exporters to have easy and swift access to all export information and advisory services. This service therefore enables an exporter to make an informed decision in the export process which include export planning, contract sourcing, product sourcing, export logistics, export documentation and export financing. This service can be accessed by clients from both outside Lagos and outside Nigeria without meeting 3T Impex physically.

COVERAGE

This service covers the following areas:
1.Local product price enquiries
2.Export price enquiries
3.Reviewing of export contract
4.Product specification enquiries
5.Export product enquiries
6.Local suppliers enquiries
7.Export finance enquiries

In addition to the EIS coverage listed above, each client that registers for this service will also be given the highly informative 3T Impex Export Manual on DVD.

BENEFITS
1.Speedy response to all export enquiries
2.Clients ride on our experience to avoid costly mistake and thus prevent losses
3.Through our advisory services, client can take inform decision and improve their profitability
4.This service is available to clients outside Lagos and overseas. So our clients do not have to meet us physically to enjoy the service.

FEES
This service costs N10,000 with an expiry period of one month. However, we have good discounts for clients that want to subscribe for longer period. The table below shows the subscription period and the fee payable for each period.
1 month-     N10,000 ($70)
2 months-   N18,000 ($120)
3 months-   N26,000 ($175)
4 months-   N34,000 ($230)

5 months-   N42,000 ($280)

6 months-   N50,000 ($335)

For payment of cash or cheque, our bank details are as follows;
Intercontinental Bank
3T Impex Consulting Limited
0140118000000110

Shea Butter Production Training

Premium Shea Butter Producer in Nigeria

 

Nigeria can now boast of a good quality premium grade 1 shea butter produced from a small factory at a village near Iseyin on Oyo state. Although most shea butter produced from Nigeria have hitherto fall short of the standard of the international market especially in Europe and North America, I am very glad to introduced Mrs Yemi Adefowoju as part of the few that have overcome this challenge. At present, her shea butter is being sold in the US market because of her ability to get the specifications right as shown in the table below. 

The Table below shows the Specifications of the laboratory analysis done on our product sample in a United State laboratory (INTERTEK OIL, CHEMICAL & AGRIC SERVICES). The Report Number of this analysis is US621-2079/48363.64504/10

To reach Mrs Yemi Adefowoju for your enquiries and purchase of this premium shea butter,  please send an email to bayemibo@gmail.com or call +234 803 6522 946.