AS AN ATTRACTIVE LOCATION FOR INVESTMENT, NIGERIA HAS:

Large Consumer Market & Economic Potentials:
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, with over 200 million people. This presents a vast consumer market with significant demand for goods and services across various sectors. As the largest economy in Africa, it has experienced consistent GDP growth in recent years, with its economic potential being supported by a diversified economy with sectors such as telecommunications. This has also supported the growth of a large middle-class.

Market Liberalization & Policy Reforms: The Nigerian government has implemented policy reforms to improve the ease of doing business, attract investment, and diversify the economy. These reforms aim to attract investment and promote private sector participation while leading to the privatization of state-owned enterprises and the opening up of sectors previously dominated by the government.

Entrepreneurial Spirit & Innovation hub for Africa: 
Nigeria has a vibrant entrepreneurial culture, with a large number of startups and a growing ecosystem of innovation hubs. The country's entrepreneurial spirit fosters investment opportunities in technology, e-commerce, fintech, and other sectors.

Skilled Workforce: Nigeria has a large and youthful workforce, offering a pool of skilled professionals in various sectors. The country's workforce includes professionals in fields such as engineering, finance, technology, healthcare, and creative industries.

Financial Hub: Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, is a major financial hub in Africa. It hosts local and international banks, insurance companies, and financial institutions, providing access to financial services and investment opportunities. (Source: Financial Times - Lagos Emerges as Africa's Leading Financial Center)

Strong Diaspora Network: Nigeria has a large diaspora population spread across the globe. This network provides investment opportunities through remittances, knowledge transfer, and access to international markets.

KEY AREAS/ SECTORS OF INVESTMENTS:
Nigeria is a fast-developing market with opportunities in different sectors:

INNOVATION & DIGITALIZATION: providing solutions to daily challenges: The tech startup system in Nigeria is still at a nascent phase but remains the most advanced in the continent with 90 tech hubs and 500+ active startups, thanks to the access to smartphones, internet accesses and an early adopter population.

Lagos, the economic heart of Nigeria, ranks as the top startup city in Africa. Nigeria will like to embrace innovation and move in the direction of digital transformation through the use of Emerging Technologies and Trends, Research, Development, Commercialization, Entrepreneurship and Investments as the key drivers of an innovation ecosystem.

The country is gradually emerging as a hotbed of technology innovations cutting across the financial services, agriculture, hospitality, entertainment and medical industries. The local tech startup system has already produced five out of the seven unicorns that rose in the continent, e.g., Flutterwave, OPay, Andela, Interswitch and the leading ecommerce platform Jumia. Fintech remains the largest subsector in Nigeria’s tech industry, consisting of over 200 companies In total, Nigerian fintech startups raised 1,5 BUSD out of the 4 BUSD raised by all African startups combined. Key activities of Nigerian fintech’s cover payment processors, remittance platforms, wallet providers and merchant services. To read more on this area: Digital technologies unlocking Africa’s informal retail market potential (2023; Resilient Coastal Western Africa: Turning Challenges to Opportunities (2023)

IMPROVING ELECTRICITY ACCESS THROUGH CLEANER ENERGY SOLUTIONS: Nigeria plans to increase renewable electricity generation to more than 30% by 2030. The country also has plans to increase the cumulative installed capacities of small hydropower, solar PV, biomass, and wind power by 2025. The government is actively
promoting investment in renewable energy projects and providing incentives to accelerate their development. Nearly half of the population has no access to the power supply and energy production from renewable sources is the solution to bring power to rural communities. The country in 2023 decentralised the energy market where the semi-independent states are able to have their own electricity markets i.e. generate, distribute and issue licenses to private investors who have the ability to operate mini-grids and power plants within the States. This creates further opportunities in the sector.

TRANSPORT & URBAN MOBILITY as vector for growth: The need for a connected and complementary system linking different modes of transport that would maximize the coverage of Nigerian cities has become necessary. Almost 50% of the population are concentrated in the urban areas while this urban agglomeration grows with over 5% annually. Consequently, the demand for transport is growing nationally following the GDP's forecasted growth of 10-13% going as far as 2030. Consequently, transport demand will also witness a growth rate of 13-16% within the same period. Many ongoing and forecasted projects around the urban mobility.

Africa's New Era Of Urban Mobility, BRT Opportunities in the region (2023); Navigating Importation in Nigeria to embrace opportunities (2023)

WASTE TO WEALTH (TO ENERGY & MOBILITY): The development of the transportation & Energy infrastructure in Nigeria has not been following the population growth making congested urban mobility one of the main issues the country faces especially Lagos as well as loss of economic potentials from the inadequate energy supplies.

On the other hand, Nigeria produces an estimation of 32 million tons of solid waste per year, with only about 20-30 percent of it being collected and managed correctly. The country, especially Lagos is looking at innovative solutions to the waste but for it to also act as a complementary alternative solution to the problems of energy especially in view of the potentials for states to generate their own energies and the development of sustainable urban transportation.

SUPPORTING HEALTHCARE NEEDS in a post-covid context: The healthcare segment in Nigeria is projected to grow by 7.10 per cent (2023-2027) resulting in a market volume of US$161.70 million in 2027. The country aims to develop a healthcare system that is easily accessible, reasonably priced, and of high quality through strategic investments, technological improvements, regulatory reforms, and a focus on

preventive treatment. Nigeria’s large, young rising population, an increase in non-communicable diseases, a rise in healthcare spending, widening deficits in primary and specialty care, technological advancements, and the state’s encouragement of investment have created opportunities for growth across all levels of service provision.

Read more: Resilient Coastal Western Africa: Turning Challenges to Opportunities (2023); https://www.business-sweden.com/insights/client-cases/hemocue-takes-global-health-to-local-context/

GROWING RETAIL & CREATIVE INDUSTRIES: Nigeria has a thriving retail sector, driven by a rising middle class and increasing consumer spending. Investment opportunities exist in areas such as shopping malls, supermarkets, e-commerce, and consumer goods especially luxury items and fashion.

Urbanization coupled with stable young population and growing middle class is also increasing recreational needs such as leisure and other activities. Nigeria is the world’s fastest growing Entertainment & Media (E&M) market. Equally important, the projected growth rate of digital advertising in Nigeria through 2023, is almost three times that of Germany. Read more our reports: Africa Consumer Market On The Move (2020), Changing Patterns of Consumer Goods Market in Nigeria (2020); Nigeria: A Fashion Hot Spot (2022) ; Tuning Into Africa: Addstep Brings Music Platform To Nigeria (2023)