Abuja Investment Summit seeks to connect investors, government agencies to increase economic potential of FCT – Chief Abiodun

Can we meet you sir and know the activities of TDF Consultants Limited? My name is Chief Abiodun Odusanwo. A chartered Marketing Practitioner, sports educator, and an ardent tourism practitioner, I have lived the substantial part of my life imparting knowledge to others, engaging in human and resource management and growth of people, organizations and […]

Can we meet you sir and know the activities of TDF Consultants Limited?

My name is Chief Abiodun Odusanwo. A chartered Marketing Practitioner, sports educator, and an ardent tourism practitioner, I have lived the substantial part of my life imparting knowledge to others, engaging in human and resource management and growth of people, organizations and states.

In the course of my activities, I have worked on projects for countries, regions, cities, hotels, companies and resorts to develop their potentials, improve income generation and deliver real growth. Same with public sector agencies where I am engaged to maximize market opportunities, increase economic profit and reward. This also includes business enterprise development training, small business seminars and executive development workshops in the United Kingdom and in Africa.

With a membership of several professional bodies, I am currently the National President of the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN), where I lead a team of skilled and experienced practitioners and technocrats with a breath of commercial expertise and hard-won public-sector experience to make the Institute a premier professional membership organisation and awarding body for the Hospitality Travel Tourism and allied industry in Nigeria.

On its part, TDF Consultants Ltd is a dynamic consulting firm, consisting of result-driven Consultants with many years of experience of operating in Africa and England in diverse areas of services towards transforming organisations’ operations and ensuring economic growth of public-private sectors. TDF is a recognised business-growth consultancy passionate about solving problems through analytical and collaborative methods just as it is collaborating with other high level private and public sector institutions in the hosting of the first ever Abuja Investment Summit and Summit.

What inspired you to come up with the summit?

As a consultant service provider in business growth for income generation and economic development, we are leveraging on our collaborative skied and initiatives to help government in exploring the vast and untapped economic-resource potentials that the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja is endowed with by bringing in the investment portfolios of the private sector with funds and the expertise to explore the available opportunities for economic growth and development of the FCT. Yes, the government is grabbling with lean financial resources to meet its social obligations to the people. But the irony is that it has abundant resources left untapped which when explored and harnessed adequately, can bail it out of its financial and economic crunch. This is essentially the focus of the Abuja Summit and Expo with the theme: Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Abuja.

What will the summit entail?

As the name implies, the programme is made of three major activities. One is the summit where experts have been chosen to talk and discuss on the theme: Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Abuja, with in-depth analysis and discourse on the various sub-themes, about 16 of them at plenary and technical sessions. These include finance and funding, exploration expertise, resource management and control, technological innovation and digitalization, leveraging on our resourceful youth, infrastructural development, entrepreneurship, etc.

Second, is the exhibition; which exhibitors will showcase a range of investment opportunities and projects in Abuja. Exhibitors will include businesses, government agencies, and other organizations involved in infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, real estate and other sectors. There will be exhibition visits with participants having the opportunity to visit exhibition booths to acquaint themselves with up-to-date information about products and services.

The third is networking and business matchmaking. The event will provide ample opportunities for networking and socializing as well as facilitate Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Government (B2G) matchmaking sessions, enabling investors to meet potential partners and explore investment opportunities in Abuja.

Who are the guests and visitors you are anticipating to grace the summit?

The summit will congregate top policy-makers, leaders of successful companies and leading investors, business analysts, CEOs of large conglomerates and multilateral agencies who want to harness investment treasure of the Federal Capital Territory. On both days of the event, lead speakers and sub speakers drawn from all segments of the national socio-economic strata are being selected and assigned topics relevant to their field of professional callings to talk on the theme. His Excellency, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu-GCFR, President and Commander-In-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria has graciously accepted to declare the summit and expo open as the special guest of honour, while the Honorable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bar Nyesom Wike, will join as the Host City Minister. Other ministers, chief executive officers of the respective departments, agencies and parastatals will join at various levels and different capacities in the course of the summit.

Then we have exhibitors mostly from the Federal Capital Territory Administration and SDAs, who are the primary targets for investment stimulation. You will be surprised to the enormous projects which they have on ground looking for investors to execute and implement for the good of the people. Therefore, the summit and expo is long overdue and couldn’t have come at a better time than now.

Who are the primary targets for the summit?

As I mentioned earlier, the Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs) are the primary focus and targets. Each agency or department has quite a number of projects and programmes that they are seeking for investment partnership to implement because of paucity of funds on the side of the government. The Investment Summit and Expo will boost developmental activities in the city of Abuja and its environs and as well offer opportunities for investors to leverage on various business possibilities that are abound within the Territory.

What major areas of investment opportunities exist in the FCT?

The Federal Capital Territory Administration, encompassing the six Local Council Areas, have identifiable number of growth pole sectors as targeted industries which include; agriculture and agro-allied industries, telecommunications, hospitality, tourism, petrochemicals, renewable energy, real estates, transportation, ICT, industrial parks, free trade zones and a host of others which we are very certain, industrialists and investors will find worthy of giving due consideration and interest to invest in. The city is highly populated which means the market is readily available.

As organizers, what level of discussions do we expect, in terms of the topics and caliber of speakers/ panelists?

Given the objectives of the summit, it will congregate top policy-makers, leaders of successful companies and leading investors. At plenary or technical sessions, there will be a platform for high-level discussions on investment opportunities, challenges, and solutions in Abuja. There will be erudite Keynote speakers, well-articulated panel of discussants and vibrant presentations have been invited to speak on the various sub-themes of the topic of the summit which cut across such key economic areas of agriculture, transportation, technological innovation and ICT, tourism and hospitality, real estate and housing development, water supply and sanitation, infrastructural development, entrepreneurship, etc.

What do you hope to achieve with the summit? 

The essence of the Abuja Investment Summit and Expo and its key objectives are; to promote and market the FCT as a safe investment destination in Africa, create a platform for networking, knowledge-sharing and collaboration among investors, entrepreneurs, government officials and other stakeholders, showcase the potentials of Abuja as an investment destination and highlight the city’s socio-economic and cultural strengths. It also intends to promote economic growth and development in Abuja by fostering partnerships between the public and private sectors, attract fresh and huge investments into the Federal Capital Territory, including Foreign Direct Investment and accelerate collaborative and investment partnerships to boost FCT’s internally generated revenue base for more development and sustainable economy.

Will there be any follow-up after the summit?

At the end of the Summit and Expo, it is expected that a communique will be issued which will contain some of the far-reaching policy frameworks and decisions as they concern investment opportunities in the FCT. The communique will, among other things, highlight the business networking and partnership opportunities that the event offered to participants either as exhibitors or investors. Guidelines will also be provided on implementable policy decisions and frameworks that will unlock the investment potentials of the city. The Communique will be the document guideline for follow-ups on the successes and achievements of the summit and expo as well as the way forward for further steps to aggregate and concretize further development efforts.