The US Nigeria Council (USNC) convened a dinner with the top US investors with interest in Nigeria in New York on Wednesday, 20th of September 2017 on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
The dinner, co-hosted by John Coumantaros, Chairman of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, Uche Orji, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, and Ambassador John Negroponte, Vice-Chairman of McLarty Associates, gathered leaders of Nigerian and American businesses. Council members and dinner participants focused on the need to create a competitive ICT cluster that will further develop the digital economy in Nigeria.
US businesses attending the dinner included Google, Walmart, IBM, Tetra Tech, and American Tower. Among the leading investors at the event were Citi, Denham Capital, Fairfax Africa, CRE Ventures, Development Partners International, Atlas Mara and Zephyr Management.
The commitment of Nigerian businesses to the USNC was demonstrated by the active participation of Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, Adewale Tinubu of Oando, Tunde Folawiyo of Yinka Folawiyo Group, Abdulrazaq Isa of Waltersmith, Kola Karim of Shoreline Energy, and Oscar Onyema of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. The dinner welcomed a diverse group of entrepreneurs who have started companies in technology, agribusiness, e-commerce and education, including Cars45, Royal Power, GidiMobile, Flutterwave, RxAll, and Lidya.