Government of Illinois inbound trade mission to Nigeria, biggest win as NACC’s acting Director-General, says Wofai Samuel

Acting D.G Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Wofai Samuel; Representatives from U.S. Mission in Nigeria; Commissioner for Trade Lagos State, Folashade Ambrose, President & Board Members NACC, Delegates and Representatives from the State of Illinois, USA.

The Government of Illinois implemented an Inbound Trade mission to Nigeria from Wednesday, March 13th to Friday, March 15th, 2024.

The Mission was aimed at promoting two-way trade between Nigeria and the State of Illinois, identifying sales representatives for goods, services, and products produced in Illinois, Introduce Goods, Services, and Products from the Illinois market to the Nigerian Market, and overall networking with strategic persons across Government, the United States Diplomatic Community, and the Business Communities in Nigeria.

In a statement, Ms. Wofai Samuel, Acting Director-General of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce marked the success of the Inbound Trade Mission as her biggest achievement as Acting D.G.

“It is such an interesting time to lead the Chamber’s Affairs as Acting D.G. The Mission is organized by the Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunities, Office of Trade and Investments, Government of Illinois, and supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration. We have succeeded with various outbound Missions to the U.S. including the states of Virginia, DC, Maryland amongst others and as a result, we are overwhelmed welcoming them inbound. This is uncommon, especially coming from the Government of a State in U.S.

I am specially thankful to Sam Ntum, Senior International Trade Specialist (Africa), Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity; Lauro Arias – Assistant Director, Illinois Office of Trade & Investment for choosing Nigeria as host country”.

The Delegates were; Eugene Botsoe, Ability Engineering; Gregory Bush, Jr. – Bush Infotech Group and Quentella Enty, Bush Infotech Group; Wael Abulaban – Chicago Medical Engineering; Jacqueline Bradley and Ronnie Doss – Global CPR Technologies; Olufemi Oladeinde – SDI ENGR Corp; William Grayson – Gold Banner Beauty Products; Femi Morgan – Green Innovation & Technology; Parsam FaraHmand – MedGyn; Charles Harrell II – IT Architect Corporation; Eric Hamilton – IT Architect Corporation.

The Welcome Dinner was held at the Federal Palace Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos, with Delegates and Illinois Government Reps. in attendance. Also present, were the president of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Acting D.G. of the Chamber, Wofai Samuel, and Olamilekan Adelana, M.D. Zenith Carex.

The Special Guest for the Occasion was the Honorable Commissioner of Science, Innovation, and Technology, Government of Lagos State, Hon. Tunbosun Alake, who restated his commitment to supporting the already started relationship between the State of Illinois and Nigerian, especially with Lagos as Host City.

In Her remarks, Ms. Samuel thanked the delegates for choosing Nigeria as one of their destinations for the missions and reassured them of the Chamber’s Commitment to work with their businesses in various capacities directed at propelling their growth in-country.

The Market Briefing by the Commercial Section of the United States Mission in Nigeria, was done by the Commercial Counsellor, Julie Marie-LeBlanc; Commercial Attache’ – Blake Murray; Senior Commercial Specialist: Ngozi Nkwoh; and Commercial Specialist – Chamberlain Eke.

The Market Briefing, B2B Meetings and Welcome Reception was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel and was attended by stakeholders across various value chains.

In attendance at the welcome reception, were; the Delegates, Reps. Of the Government of Illinois, President of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Adebola Williams and Members of the Board, U.S. Mission’s Commercial Counsellor and her team, Mastercard, META, NEXIM BANK, Consulate of Germany, Delegates from B2B Meetings spanning 52 Companies amongst others.

The Honorable Commissioner for Trade, Industry, Commerce and Cooperatives, Government of Lagos State, Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem delivered the Welcome Remarks.

Seventy-five percent of Delegates adjudged the Mission to be the best they have participated in on the Continent.
The Representatives from the Government of Illinois also lauded the mission’s success in anticipation of future engagements.

Samuel joined the Chamber in August 2023 as Director of Communications, Government Relations, Advocacy & Programmes in August 2023. She was made Acting Director-General of the Chamber in March 2024 and currently serves in this position.