FMITI, NCX, ATDC partner to unlock export markets for MSMEs
The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), and Africa Trade and Distribution Company (ATDC) are partnering to establish Nigeria’s first National Export Trading Company, which is to serve as an operating entity of ATDC.
ATDC was established by the Afreximbank through the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), Arise Integrated Industrial Platform (ARISE IIP) and Equitane, in partnership with the AfCFTA Secretariat. It is a continental trading company mandated to streamline regional trade and transform Africa’s productive capacity.
ATDC will provide market intelligence, logistics, finance and aggregation services to support micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), smallholder farmers, informal cross-border traders and even larger corporations to participate in international trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Announced at the just concluded WAES, the initiative represents a shift in enabling Nigerian MSMEs to participate more competitively in regional and global trade through access to modern infrastructure, working capital solutions and structured market linkages.
The National Export Trading Company will be developed and operated through ATDC Nigeria, a new joint platform that merges NCX’s institutional role in commodity markets with ATDC’s trade execution and logistics capacity.
The company will directly address long-standing gaps across Nigeria’s export ecosystem, particularly in warehousing, quality control, transport, market access and financing for smallholder producers and agro-industrial SMEs.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said: “This is about changing the everyday reality for Nigerian producers; from losses to livelihoods, from being left behind to being export-ready. We are creating a system that works for people, for markets and the future.”
Noting that ATDC reflects Afreximbank’s broader continental strategy to develop country-level platforms that enable intra-African trade, the crowd in private capital and improve the soft and hard infrastructure behind exports, Chief Executive Officer, ATDC, Abdoul Aziz Ba said that with similar platforms being deployed across the continent, Nigeria’s Trading Company will stand out for its scale, depth and direct alignment with national food security, industrialisation and trade goals.
The National ATDC will play a critical role in reducing post-harvest losses through modern aggregation and storage; structure commodity exports with traceability and quality control; provide market intelligence and market access to certified regional and global buyers; facilitate innovative trade finance for SMEs and revitalise NCX as a hub for structured commodity trade.
