Nico Holdings Limited has announced the K30 million sponsorship towards Malawi’s participation at this year’s Intra African Trade Fair (IATF) scheduled to take place in Cairo, Egypt, from 9-15th November.
As a leading financial services company in Malawi, Nico Holdings said it is committed to supporting Malawian businesses, especially small and medium enterprises in accessing trade and investment opportunities on the African continent.
Head of Marketing and Customer Experience at Nico Holdings Group, Lorraine Phiri said they are delighted to be partnering with the Export Development Fund (EDF) and for the important event.
“The Intra African Trade Fair is a great opportunity for Malawi to showcase its products, services, and investment potential to a wider audience.” Adding that: “This support will help companies, especially SMEs who could not afford to pay the costs for setting up exhibition booths at this fair to have a chance and exhibit their products through the Malawi pavilion.’
Managing Director for ED, Fredrick Chanza said they are excited that Nico Holding has come on board to support Malawis participation at this years Intra African Trade Fair.
He said the IATF is an opportunity for the country to expand its export markets and tap into the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA.
“As EDF one of our strategic pillars is the promotion of cross border trade. We acknowledge the growing demands that as a country we need to expand our export trade footprint within Africa and beyond. But for us to achieve that we need collaboration with key players like Nico holdings to patronise such events and explore business opportunities for the benefit of our economy as a country,” he said.
Chanza said with Malawi’s participation in this event, the country hopes to attract new trade and investment opportunities.
The K30m sponsorship from Nico will go towards supporting the construction of the Malawi Pavilion at this year’s where at least 21 companies including Small and Medium Enterorises have confirmed their participation.
The Intra African Trade Fair, is the continent’s largest trade fair, providing a platform for African businesses to connect, learn, and do business with each other.
Currently, the African continent is home to over 1.2 billion people and has a combined GDP of over $2.5 trillion yet intra-African trade remains low, presently around 15 per cent.
Therefore the IATF seeks to address this challenge by creating a unique and valuable platform for businesses to access this integrated African market created under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
