8 ways you can grow your business by entering new markets or selling new products and services.

According to a recent survey, 26% of small and medium-sized businesses are exploring a variety of strategies

to give themselves a competitive edge in the market.

In this article we take a look at 8 ways you can grow your business by entering new markets or selling new products and services.

1. Collaborate

Collaboration is a way of bringing the skills and experience of your business together with those of another complementary business that has a similar customer base to yours.

By joining forces with a similar business to yours, you can raise awareness of your brand with customers in your target market that might never have heard of you. Same with your collaborator.

2. Open a new location

If you’ve already established a successful business in one location, one option for expansion is to set up another of it elsewhere.

You may need to nominate a management consultant or an auditor to manage your company in your absence.

And it depends on your agreement, the two of you can successfully operate the business via correspondence provided you keep your part of the agreement.

3. Franchise your business

Another option for anyone with a proven business model is franchising.

Your franchisee takes on the risk of setting up in a different location, but you still have to put in the hard work to manage your franchises and it needs to be a business model that can work in multiple locations.

If you are confused, just take time to study other popular franchises that you see scattered all over Nigeria. 

Good examples include: KFC, Dominos, Coldstone, Mr. Biggs, etc. 

4.License a product

You may have a fantastic business idea, but if you’ve reached your limit for producing your product on a large scale, one option available is to license it.

This is where another company takes over the responsibility for producing and distributing the product, but they take the lion’s share of the profits and pay you royalties.

This isn’t for every company, but some entrepreneurs have made successful businesses from licensing such things as designs, games and software, leaving them more time to come up with new products.

5. Sell complementary products or services

If people are already buying from you, could you potentially increase the cost of their purchases and improve customer loyalty by offering them something else they might need.

This could involve selling a related product or service from a third party, which you make commission on, or you could put your skills to use producing something that fills a gap in your market.

Pharmacies and supermarkets use this strategy to sell magazines. A good example is Medplus. 

6. Enter new markets

This could be selling in a new area, a new country or to a completely different type of customer. Whichever new market you choose to enter, one thing is for sure – you must do your research first!

Don’t expect that they will behave just the same as customers in your existing markets. Understand their wants and needs and then develop a relevant product or service that satisfies these. 

7. Public procurement

With government targets to award 25% of small public-sector contracts to small and medium-sized businesses, there has never been a better time to explore the opportunities available to you in this new market. 

8. Exporting

Nigeria exports increased in the 3rd quarter of 2017 and many businesses have got in on the act as the demand for Nigerian products improved overseas.

The African Continental Free Trade Area

At the 12th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union on the African Continental Free Trade Area, Nigeria, on the 7th of July, 2019 in Niamey, Niger Republic, executed the instrument embodying the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, becoming the 53rd member of this body. Forty-four (44) out of the fifty-five (55) member-nations of the African Union had signed the Agreement on the 21st of March, 2018 at Kigali, Rwanda, during a Session of the African Union.

Moving a step further, President Muhammadu Buhari, on the 28th of July, 2019, approved the establishment of a National Action Committee (NAC) for the implementation of the AfCFTA.

By virtue of Article 23 of the African Continetal Free Trade Area Agreement, the AfCFTA shall come into force thirty (30) days after its ratification by twenty-two (22) of the signatory-nations or the deposit of the instrument of ratification by the 22nd nation. 

The Gambia ratified the Agreement on the 2nd of April, 2019 while on the 29th of April, 2019, Saharawi Republic became the 22nd nation to deposit its instrument of ratification. The Agreement, thus, came into effect on the 30th of May, 2019.

The AfCFTA was motivated by the need to deepen greater economic ties among African nations through the creation of vistas of economic cooperation and interactions through trades in goods and services, investments, intellectual property rights and competition policy.

The creation of a common market became necessary in order to attain these lofty objectives. It is projected that a common market will create a viable economic hub where African countries can harness their huge market potentials not just to create wealth, but also to improve their respective balances of trade and strengthen their respective positions in relation to other nations of the world.

What do Nigerian trades and businesses stand to benefit from Nigeria being a member of the AfCFTA? 

The obvious benefit is the eventual annihilation of tariffs, or a progressive reduction of tariffs on over 90% of goods manufactured on the continent and the removal of non-tariff barriers to trade.

The Preamble and Article 3 of the AfCFTA make provision for a continental market with the free movement of persons, capital, goods and services, deepening of economic integration, promotion of agricultural development, food security, industrialization and structural economic transformation.

Others include the availability of an expanded and secure market for the goods and services of State Parties. The implications of this Agreement for Nigerian trades and businesses are enormous. 

In a nutshell, the AfCFTA provides a veritable platform for indigenous Nigerian trades and businesses to launch their products on this expanded African continental market which has been described as the largest since the World Trade Organisation came into being in 1994 via the Marrakesh Agreement. 

According to statistics available from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, trade in the free trade area is expected to boost intra-African trade by 52% by 2022.

A successful AfCFTA will create a $3.4Trillion economic hub which, expectedly, will herald an era of unprecedented development on the African continent.

It must be pointed out that one of the reasons the Nigerian government demurred in signing the Agreement was its fears that Nigeria, with its huge population, might be a dumping ground for other African nations. 

Considering, however, Nigeria’s huge population which makes it a reservoir for cheap labour, the business community in Nigeria can harness the potentials of the AfCFTA and launch their brands on this large continental market. 

The revenue that will accrue to Nigeria in terms of capital reparations to the country will, certainly, boost her Gross National Product (GNP). 

Furthermore, the huge population will also attract investors to set up their businesses in Nigeria with the hope of harnessing the availability of cheap labour while the huge natural resources will guarantee the availability of raw materials for the industries.

WORLD WATER SUMMIT AND EXPO

This year’s world Water Summit and expo sets out to question our assumptions about where the world

is moving. 

How long can banks lend money at negative interest rates? What happens as we approach the peak of global population? 

How would we do things differently if energy costs were forever low? What if the circular economy and nature-based solutions become orthodox? 

How does the end of Moore’s law change the model for growth?

Water is entering the new decade with everything to play for. Public awareness of the challenges ahead is greater than ever before. Climate change is bringing exciting new responsibilities. 

Technology is promising real productivity gains. Investment is buoyant. But making the most of this future is not going to be easy. So much in the world is changing.

The growth of every organisation in the water sector depends on understanding where our assumptions are wrong. 

However it is not just about asking big questions. It is also about connecting the big picture with what is happening on the ground, and tracing out the implications for strategy and tactics. 

More importantly it is also about connecting with the other key decision makers from across the global water industry, sharing their insights and inspiration.

With the right foundations, this could be a winning decade for water. Join us in Madrid to be part of that future.

Global Alliance On International Trade Facilitation Implementation And Policy Development

The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation is a one of a kind open private association committed to universal exchange 

Our work helps governments in creating and least created nations actualize the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation ... Protection Policy ·

We are set for make worldwide exchange basic, quick and financially savvy, making new business openings, empowering more prominent monetary and social turn of events and decreasing neediness.

The Alliance unites governments and organizations as equivalent accomplices to address delays and pointless formality at outskirts and plan and send focused on changes that convey monetarily quantifiable outcomes.

JAPAN - NIGERIA ECONOMIC FORUM

JAPAN - NIGERIA ECONOMIC FORUM

Companies, Businesses,Leaders and Investors should cease this opportunity for their exhibitions,B2B Meeting, Business Cocktail, Trade/Business Conference & Plenary Session, Bilateral Trade Agreement and activity.

JAPAN - NIGERIA ECONOMIC FORUM has been organized to see how both countries can engage,create and improve on business ties and opportunities post Covid 19 for the purpose of business growth and development between Countries with focus on foreign direct investment (FDI), through G2G/B2B/B2C, project development, build own operate and transfer (BOOT), supporting business development, investment, trade promotions, economic exchange and multilateral cooperation with major aim on projecting the African economy

Nigeria - Czech Business Delegation of Agricultural, Agro - Commerce,Agro-Tech Trade Mission

Nigeria - Czech Agricultural, Agro - Commerce, Agro -Tech Trade Mission and Agro - Business Delegation will offer both Nigerians and citizens of Czech Republic the platform and opportunity

TRADE NIGERIA - Tradenigeriaorg.org

Offering the Nigerian Business community a platform to promote themselves

NIGERIA - IRELAND TRADE MISSION TO DUBLIN, IRELAND

The purpose of the Nigeria – Ireland trade mission is to introduce and expose

Economic Growth And Export Performance

The great reshuffle in the world economic order: The world's economy is changing at an unprecedented