New York — The US Nigeria Council (USNC) convened a dinner with the top US investors with interest in Nigeria in New York on Wednesday, 20th of September 2017 on the margins of the UN General Assembly. The USNC is a business to a business organization that works to create partnerships between Nigerian and American companies and to strengthens US-Nigeria commercial relations.
The dinner, co-hosted by John Coumantaros, Chairman of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, Uche Orji, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, and Ambassador John Negroponte, Vice-Chairman of McLarty Associates, gathered leaders of Nigerian and American businesses to discuss how to build on Nigeria’s return to growth and deepen diversification. In particular, Council members and dinner participants focused on the need to create a competitive ICT cluster that will further develop the digital economy in Nigeria.
US businesses attending the dinner included Google, Walmart, IBM, Tetra Tech, and American Tower. Among the leading investors at the event were Citi, Denham Capital, Fairfax Africa, CRE Ventures, Development Partners International, Atlas Mara and Zephyr Management. The dinner was attended by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, and Ambassador Hassan Mohammed Hassan of Nigeria.
The commitment of Nigerian businesses to the USNC was demonstrated by the active participation of Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, Adewale Tinubu of Oando, Tunde Folawiyo of Yinka Folawiyo Group, Abdulrazaq Isa of Waltersmith, Kola Karim of Shoreline Energy, and Oscar Onyema of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. The dinner welcomed a diverse group of entrepreneurs who have started companies in technology, agribusiness, e-commerce, and education, including Cars45, Royal Power, GidiMobile, Flutterwave, RxAll, and Lidya.
The co-host of the dinner and co-chair of the Council, John Coumantaros, noted that the “USNC is the premier business organization developing tangible joint ventures and partnerships that develop capacity and accelerate economic diversification in Nigeria.” He further stated: “the ICT Cluster is a major priority of the business community.”
Uche Orji, speaking at the occasion, described the work of the Council as bringing together “a wide spectrum of stakeholders critical to building Nigerian-American business relations.” Eliot Pence, Executive Director of the USNC, in his remarks, noted the Council’s unique focus on “facilitating transactions between young entrepreneurs, investors, and companies.”
About US Nigeria Council
The USNC has offices in Washington DC and Lagos, Nigeria. These offices support US companies that want to invest in the Nigerian market and Nigerian companies seeking partners and financial backers in the United States.
To learn more about the USNC, please visit www.usnigeriacouncil.org.
