Access Bank Relaunches Dutch Desk to Boost Nigeria-Netherlands Trade

Nume Ekeghe

Access Bank has relaunched its Dutch Desk in its bid to enhance trade and business ties between Nigeria and the Netherlands.

Also, as part of expanding opportunities for Dutch entrepreneurs, Access Bank and Invest International have signed a memorandum of understanding to relaunch a new financing facility.

Speaking at the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Lagos, the MD/CEO, Access Bank Nigeria, Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna, said the relaunch builds trust while bridging gaps between Dutch business and their Nigerian counterparts.

According to him, “The question is why is it that we are going about setting up this desk? We’ve supplanted what is a traditional banking model by taking a coloration around behavior and culture and supplanting that on that traditional banking model and trying to make it work. And we have seen with several of the desks that it has happened exactly how we anticipated.”

He noted that The Dutch desk would help bridge gap by bringing Dutch businesses in line with Nigerian businesses to help change the narrative about the continent and Nigeria.

He said: “So let’s create a platform that allows Dutch businesses looking for new markets and Nigerian businesses seeking to explore beyond our traditional trade routes to be able to find a way to do so.

“The partnership with Invest International ensures that we’re then able to support these businesses’ trade, either providing capital for payment and settlement or providing capital to ensure that they can make sustainable investments in their businesses through acquisition of fixed assets or conversion of their energy sources so that they can remain competitive. The Dutch desk will build trust, provide information, and ultimately support that with capital so that we can catalyse Dutch-Nigerian businesses as a support group.”

For the Director Private Sector, Invest International, Michiel Slootweg, the move basically assists trade between both countries.

He said, “We have seen, of course, that times have been difficult, economically-wise, but we do see that actually foreign direct investment is picking up again. That’s also why we have the Dutch desk, to basically assist Dutch businesses who want to invest in Nigeria, and also assist Nigerian companies who want to export to the Netherlands.”