The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry  (LCCI) has flagged off the 2009 Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF) prospectus.

Presenting the prospectus with the theme, “Turning the Global Economic Crisis into Opportunities”, the President of LCCI, Solomon Onafowonkan disclosed that the choice of the theme underscores the fact that even in a period of economic downturn, there will be opportunities and some silver lining.

He said the global economic meltdown definitely poses a number of challenges to business and that the presentation is an invitation to investors in all sectors of the economy to come on-board the biggest exhibition platform in the country.

“There has been a slowdown in demand, exchange rate has depreciated significantly, interest rate has risen dramatically and credit lines are no longer as robust as they had been, but good entrepreneurs will see opportunities where others are seeing challenges.  Its not all stories of gloom and doom” he said.

According to him, there are new opportunities in the area of import substitution, because the cost of import has gone up, and opportunities for cheap acquisition of assets locally and internationally as assets prices had crashed significantly.

“There are opportunities in the production of products that are high in demand during a period of economic slowdown; these will invariably be pocket friendly products. There will be as many opportunities as the ingenuity of the entrepreneurs can go.  I am sure some of these creative business ideas will manifest at the 2009 LITF” said Onafowonkan.}

Furthermore he disclosed that the LITF provides a platform to unleash and showcase the private sector potentials in the Nigeria economy, promote global partnerships in business and unveil new benchmarks for competitiveness.
“Given the abundant entrepreneurial potentials and talents in the country, we believe the private sector is ready and able to take up the challenge of being the driver of the economic growth process, we should be proud of our various products many of which are of world standard but most of these products are apparently not given the desired standard.

The LITF offers such exposures that could generate tremendous patronage and consumer loyalty for these firms” he stated.