9th June, 2014
A Turkish business group, Esidef, is collaborating with some Nigerian entrepreneurs to establish a juice producing factory in the country by 2015, its Secretary-General, Murat Sakartepe said.
Sakartepe told NAN at the weekend in Izmir, Turkey, that talks on the project had reached advanced stages.
He said that the juice plant was one of the ventures the Turkish entrepreneurs planned to establish in Nigeria before the second quarter of 2016.
He described Nigeria as a new investment destination for Turkish investors, adding that Turkey and other nations were leveraging on Nigeria’s latest GDP rating and economic leadership in Africa to invest in the country.
“No good business can be done in Africa now without Nigeria,” he said.
Aside from trading ventures, he said that members of the group were also interested in Nigeria’s mining and manufacturing sectors.
Sakartepe said Esidef had offered Nigerian students in Turkish universities internship opportunities in its member-companies as part of measures to build a healthy business relationship with Nigeria.
He stated that the internship programme had begun, adding that 18 students were already “enjoying the opportunity”.
“We want to do business in Nigeria and because of the interest of our members in investing there, between 2013 and now, we undertook 230 business trips to the country and others for assessment.
“And, regularly we organise seminars and workshops on leadership, management and capacity-building, import and export trades, and other aspects of business,” he said.
NAN reports that Esidef is a federation of 42 business associations in Turkey, and has 12,300 members spread across 12 states.