United Bank for Africa Plc, on Monday said it is ready to support the Japanese government for promotion of African Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.
Hosting members of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), led by its CEO, Hiroyuki Ishige, at a cocktail, Chairman, UBA Group, Tony Elumelu, recalled that the deliberations had earlier commenced in Davos, Switzerland.
Like UBA Plc, he said JETRO shared the passion to transform lives and help build businesses and trade across the world, noting that “when global leaders visit a country, they bring global attention.
“These investors who came from Davos have seen Nigeria as a business destination and have come to the country for the first time to visit us and see how things work here. The fact is that we all share the same passion to help transform lives and businesses around the world.”
Continuing, Elumelu told the Japanese delegation: “We are aware of the various investments you have made recently to develop Africa and African businesses and this is what we also stand for at UBA, developing enterprises across the African continent. We believe that this visit will mark significant milestones and progress as we work towards empowering the youths and small and medium scale businesses.”
Elumelu assured that collaborations and partnerships such as these will help create jobs, alleviate poverty and build sustainable businesses that contribute towards economic growth.
Ishige who was full of praises for the bank’s management, said he found Nigeria very interesting with many wonderful opportunities for investment, stressing that JETRO aims to contribute to further development of Japan’s economy and society. This it hopes to achieve through promoting trade and investment, as well as research in developing countries.
“We like what we have seen here and we want to seize this opportunity to invite UBA to our oncoming Afro Japanese Summit which will be taking place in Yokohoma, Japan this August.
“I am convinced it will be a great opportunity for both countries to showcase themselves and come together towards the common aim of building and supporting small and medium scale businesses,” the Japan Trade boss said.
He explained that JETRO through its domestic and oversea networks supports small and medium enterprises, adding that the organisation cooperates with relevant organizations and local governments, among others, to provide services that match the needs of the company.
As a company, the Japan Trade organisation fully utilizes domestic and overseas networks consisting of about 50 domestic bases, promotes investment, agriculture, forestry and fishery products.
“We will actively and efficiently work on exporting food products and on supporting overseas expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises, and contribute to Japanese corporate activities as well as trade policies through surveys and research,” Ishige said.

Photo Caption: Deputy Group Managing Director, United Bank for Africa Plc, Victor Osadolor; Group Managing Director/CEO, Kennedy Uzoka; Chairman/CEO, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Hiroyuki Ishige; Chairman, UBA Plc, Tony Elumelu; and Senior Director for Global Strategy, JETRO, Makoto Matsumura; during the cocktail reception in honour of visiting JETRO executives and Japanese businesses and discussions on supporting medium and small scale enterprises across Africa in Lagos on Monday, January 28, 2019.