iCRA in Nigeria with Dutch Trade Mission

iCRA in Nigeria with Dutch Trade Mission

From the 8th until the 12th of july, iCRA took part in a Dutch trade mission on agrifood and sustainable cities to Nigeria with Dutch minister Kaag, of foreign trade & development cooperation.

Nigeria is a priority country for iCRA. Last month, we successfully organized a ‘Making Agribusiness Work!’ course in Ibandan, in collaboration with IITA. The course was received with great enthusiasm and led to many ideas for the future. Read more about this course in this blog by one of the participants here.

This trade mission was an excellent chance for us to invest in relationships with our Nigerian partners and also foster new collaborations & partnerships around education and agribusiness for foodsecurity. Going on a trade mission with the Dutch government did not just create great momentum during our visit, it also gave us the opportunity to learn more about the work of the Netherlands in rural development and their objectives to contribute to food security in Nigeria.

The trade mission resulted in a great interest in iCRA and concrete agreements for follow-up from existing and new local agribusiness, knowledge institutes and banks, as well as Dutch government, companies and initiatives. 

It was great to receive concrete interest from banks to partner with us during this mission. iCRA provides services to de-risk ROI, allowing the finance sector to invest more securly in the agribusiness sector. 

Celebrating partnership with El-Jays

During this trade mission, iCRA also confirmed a partnership (MoU) with El-Jays and agreed on concrete next steps to contribute to professionalising value chains in Nigeria. First value chain; Ginger!

What’s next for iCRA in Nigeria? 

At the moment iCRA and members of the iCRA group are working on a number of proposals with various partners in the public and privat sector, to jointly contribute to rural development and agribusiness in Nigeria. iCRA is currently looking into organizing more courses for agri-food professionals in Nigeria as well.