A GUIDE FOR FINNISH TEXTILE COMPANIES ENTERING NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Finding new territories to expand a business is a common goal for many. Many markets are flooded with such a variety of products it is sometimes hard for an entering business to be noticed. Entering a virgin market that is not yet saturated with the mass companies is an ideal situation for a business. They would be new, fresh and desired. There are many countries that are considered to be up and coming economies. The factors in making these countries virtually untouched are many, some including poverty, crime, corruption and even terrorism.

The objective of this thesis is to show Nigeria as a lucrative target market and to create a guide for entry. There are barriers to entry and fears of terrorism that keep many businesses away. In this work, it will unveil some of the people in Nigeria, lessening the mystery to this culture. The Nigerian culture is very business orientated and worldwide, business is business, and this is a common bond that foreign businesses have with their Nigerian counterparts. This thesis is written jointly with a Nigerian author and an American author, giving the knowledge of a native Nigerian as well as the questions of an outsider.

The commissioners for this thesis are also used as the case companies. The first commissioner/case company is Vallila Interior, a Finnish interior design company and the focus will be on their brightly colored textiles. The second commissioner/case company will be Altretes Enterprises, a Nigerian interior design company wishing to import foreign textiles to meet their clientele’s demand. This thesis will be a guide on connecting the two companies and easing some fears the Finnish company might have about entering the Nigerian market.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

3          INTRODUCTION

4          CURRENT MARKET SITUATION ANALYSIS IN NIGERIA

5          THE NIGERIAN CULTURE

6          NIGERIAN ENTREPRENEUR OMO MOMOH

7          TRAVELING IN NIGERIA FOR BUSINESS

8          LOGISTICS AND FOREIGN TRADE DOCUMENTATION

9          CONCLUSIONS

10        DISCUSSION

11        REFERENCES

12        APPENDIX

3     INTRODUCTION

Fabric is amongst everyday life in Nigeria. It is used to celebrate births, weddings, deaths and other celebrations. It is used as fashion, in the case of a wedding, everyone in the wedding party uses identical fabric to create different celebration cloths for all men and women in attendance. In the case of births, an entire change of the home must be done, including curtains and furniture upholstery, amongst other things. Fabric does not only belong to home culture. Entire event centers are renewed many times a year with new fabrics and furnishings to keep them looking fresh and neat. This is what lead to the inspiration for this thesis.

Economist Jim O’Neill has created a new term MINT, which is an acronym for Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. O’Neill is predicting that these MINT countries will be the next booming markets in the world. (Wright, 2014)

In the interest of tapping new markets, this thesis is aimed to establish new trade between an organization within the European Union and an organization residing in one of the MINT countries, Nigeria.

The selection process of what countries to join in this union of trade was done first with finding a good quality product that is not yet globally known. The second part of this process was finding a country with a potential need or desire for this product but no current access to it.

This brought about the thesis topic: A Guide for Finnish Textile Companies Entering Nigeria. With case companies as our thesis commissioners: Vallila Interior and Altretes Enterprises. Vallila, with their ever growing selection of beautiful textiles and designs, is always looking to expand into new markets. They have no dealings with Africa as of date and are interested in the possibility of entering this untapped market. The choice of focusing on Nigeria in this thesis is because it is one of the fastest growing economies and it has a big demand for imported high quality, bright and lively designs. The teaming up with Altretes Enterprises was done because the owner Omo Momoh was drawn to the Vallila product because of its designs and color array, she would like to offer this product to her clientele.

Why Nigeria?

“Nigeria is a virgin market. Most things you introduce here are still new unlike what obtains in developed economies, where their market has reached its peak.” Korede Roberts, Fusion luxury goods, Nigeria.(Punch, 2014)

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa located on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. The population in 2014 measured at over 177 million and over 62% of this population lives in extreme poverty (CIA Library). This thesis targets the remaining 38% of the Nigerian population. In the percentage of people who have extra income, luxury brands are on the rise. Nigeria has the third most millionaires in Africa with the numbers reaching 15,900 individuals (Maritz).

Purchasing foreign furnashings for homes and foreign brand clothing is a must to be in the upper class of Nigerian society. Many of the purchasing habbits are undocumented and unknown to the outsider which is one of the reasons this market has remained untouched.

This thesis was written with a Nigerian as the co-author, thus gaining access to information that otherwise would have been unobtainable.

Jane Oshuwa Ojo, co author

Jane Oshuwa Ojo obtained her business degree from Nigeria. Since receiving her degree in Nigeria, Jane has held many desirable jobs in Nigeria where she was in upper management for large corporations over the course of 5 years. She received good salaries and enjoyed a nicely balanced lifestyle. This is how she has come to obtain such tacit knowledge that is crucial to this thesis work and why the decision to use her insight as an expert was made. Jane later started school in Oulu Finland to further her education in a global setting....

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Item Type: Project Material  |  Size: 35 pages  |  Chapters: 1-5

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