NIGERIA: Lagos: Indonesia Trade Fair (April 2016)

At the grounds of Federal Palace hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos; the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia through its Indonesian Trade Promotion Centre (IPTC Lagos - Nigeria) put up the "Indonesia Solo Exhibition" from 6-8th April 2016.

In the pamphlet given to visitors, it read:

"...Nigeria's GDP income of US $1.05 trillion (2014)... and imports in 2013 amounting to US $ 61.5 billion and is the largest import in West Africa"

"In addition, the huge market size is also become a strength of the Nigerian market. Nigeria's total population of 181,562,056 people of 58.8% of the total population in West Africa amounted to 310,587,669 people makes Nigeria the largest market in West Africa, especially for consumer goods"

The Chinese are here building railway and airports...Indian population are also high and there are shops and restaurants they own, so does the countless Syrians and Lebanese entrepreneurs. In Abuja, I heard that the Turkish are also venturing into Nigeria and West African market. I met an Egyptian man selling premium furnitures in Lagos and I bet looking at the numbers of population and purchasing power (OK, we can debate this later)....Indonesia had been here quite long to make sure Nigerians had acquired the taste of their instant noodle...clever!

booths at the exhibition

Unfortunately for me, I came at the last day and last hour of the exhibition. I wasn't that mobile at certain weeks. Madam needed the car more than me so we have to take turns. ahaha.. Anyway, as usual..I met a few of the business people all the way from Jakarta and also their local partners here in Lagos promoting their wares. There were also a few, especially from the pharmaceutical industry looking for distributors in West Africa. 

There were Food and Beverage companies, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals and Agriculture products. Most of the companies have been here for quite some time and some had even established their production lines here in Nigeria. 

There's always been a sizeable Indonesia community in Lagos and Abuja. Last year when we first arrived, we met most of them at the Small World 2015 event. The bulk of the community works in the Oil and Gas industry. 

Anyway, the Director of Indonesian Trade Promotion Centre Lagos officiated the closing ceremony of the exhibition. Our (me and Madam) friend, Lola  was the emcee at the event. We met during our Wednesday night gatherings and of and on at  school. We catch up on current events (of our life) after the ceremony...she went to Abia state for Spring break and had a blast there at a vegetable farm. 

the closing ceremony of the exhibition, Lola as the emcee

Indonesians been here for quite some time. I noticed products like Indo Mie (instant noodles) and Extra Joss (energy drink) in the market. The size of Indo Mie is also different, it's almost twice the size in Malaysia or ASEAN for that matter. It is also labelled as "Hungry Man Size" and little bit salty to my taste.

I don't mean disrespect, I remembered clearly during my high school and uni days, we survived eating Indo Mie and Maggi Mee. I prefer the dry, Mee Goring ('fried' see  version of Indo Mie and it was very easy to prepare! 

Every month (in high school), you started with something like Fried Rice or Nasi Saudiah (Saudiah is the name of the eatery) or maybe the occasional KFC at Pekan Kuala Kangsar during Saturdays... But as the days went on for that month..it became lesser and lesser money for us to spend and the default mode has always been, instant noodle.

But nowadays, I don't consume much as the calories per serving is quite high for my sedentary life style..hahahahaha.

From Lagos to Kaduna (have yet been to Kano)...you will encounter small retail shops in Indo Mie livery painted onto the external wall of the shop. I heard even some of the school walls were painted with Indo Mie colours...to Madam's dismay. 

Indo Mie livery on a shop in Kaduna,
Kaduna State

Indo Mie's galore...big size too!

What am I blabbering about? Well I was on a KLM flight to Amsterdam (to Brussels actually...just after the bombing) and I sat beside an Indian business man that had been in Lagos for the past 35 years. During the 7 hours journey, we exchanged experience about Lagos and Nigeria generally.

We spoke about restaurants, local dishes and the best Italian restaurant in Nigeria, bar none! He did mentioned the name but I'm hesitant to put it here until I tried it myself. Anyway, he mentioned about the potential here in Nigeria. 

"Government would change in an "instant", but don't discredit the power of the masses....the ordinary people." 

"They need work, have mouths to feed and an entrepreneur can help them to do that." 

"Don't be greedy making extraordinary profit", he said. "Be contempt making 10% or even 5% profit regularly as long as you sleep well at night"..he added. We promised to meet once he comes back from the UK.

Suddenly, I have the feeling of staying a bit longer in Nigeria. Hmmm better brush up on my Pidgin.