In a bid to simplify export opportunity for every Nigerian, a logistic company, Shoptomydoor, has disclosed it plans to set up over 1000 logistics hubs across the country.
With the establishment of the hubs, anyone who has an item to export would not have to travel all the way to Lagos.
The Managing Director of the company who is also the President of America Air Sea cargo, Mr Nduka Udeh gave the hint while speaking on the topic “Simplifying Nigeria’s export to the United States of America” at the launch of the organisation’s export service in Lagos.
Udeh said the company is offering to ship sample of products for potential small medium companies free to the American market to encourage them.
He said the retail market for food in the US is valued at about $800billion and Nigeria make up a very small quantity. “If we get our acts right, we can tap into $10 billion to $20 billion of that food market. So those are the size of the market we are trying to see how we can open. Even if we are able to open up only $100 million, it is still a huge opportunity that would affect the lives of thousands if not millions of Nigerians,” Udeh said.
He said the company would start with dry food because the facility to ship fresh foods is not really there.
Also, he explained that with dry and processed foods they would have longer shelf life as a result of being organic and not genetically modified and also because there is a huge demand for it in the US.
Udeh decried the complexities inherent in the Nigerian export processing and documentation which seem to deter the average small and medium scale entrepreneur.
As such, due to the complexities, work is ongoing with organisations such as Nigerian Export Promotion Council to look at how to simplify it.
According to him, Nigeria’s process of forms and inspections is out of the world and that until the private sector come together as a group, government would not simplify some of these issues.
He further noted that Shoptomydoor business model is to bring an individual or small business together to lower the cost of logistics and warehousing and help them find potential buyers in US and encourage small businesses to tap into the platform.
