By Nik Ogbulie
“It has been a slow progress but consistently aligned with global approach”, is Mansur Ahmed’s verdict of the progression of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) since it came into beign some eight years ago.
Mansur Ahmed was Interim President Pan-African Manufacturers Association, and now Special Adviser to the President Dangote Group.
According to him, “today everybody is saying that Africa come of age. By and large, everybody is looking to Africa as a global partner. You can now look at Africa as a major source of doing business as Africa is quickly adding value. Africa is the fasted growing market and it is growing. To this extent, this project works in two major ways; exposing Africa’s potentials through IATF and other products, it will continue the flow of finished products to the world.”
According to Ahmed, the IATF has come to stay and will remain stronger even in terms of atttentiin: that’s why it will continue to drive integration . This is believed to affect all areas of human endeavour such as digital technology, manufacturing, innovation and creativity.
He explained that the exact size of growth in market penetration may not be easily ascertained because one main area of challenge is still the ability to provide market information (data). He believes that the growth must be corroborated since there is positive growth. But he also believes that reasonable measures of data is being created .He also indicated that the major check is data integrity which must not be compromised. “The data against the existence of 15-18 per cent or more cannot be corroborated, but if you look around you can see the growth but may not put any number to it or may not see it.
The industry Chieftain insists that there is increasing collaboration but what is important now is also consistency and resilience, too.
