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The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has urged exporters in Imo State to take advantage of its export incentive schemes to grow their businesses.

Executive director of the NEPC, Dr. Ezra Yakusak, said this, yesterday in an address, at a sensitisation forum on export incentives, organised by the Council, in Owerri.

Yakusak  said that the event was organised in partial fulfilment of the Council’s role of ameliorating the financial burden of exporters.

He listed NEPC’s available incentive schemes to include the Export Expansion Grant (EEG), the Tax Relief on Interest Income (TRII) and the Export Development Fund (EDF).

He said that the TRII was recently activated for exporters of manufactured goods and the EDF, to provide financial assistance to exporting companies, to cover part of their initial expenses with respect to export promotion activities.

He added that while the EEG and TRII are post-shipment incentives, the EDF is a pre-shipment incentive which primarily offers support to MSMEs so as to increase their competitiveness and enhance their capacity.

“The dearth of information among potential beneficiaries of the incentive schemes, evidenced by a number of enquiries about export incentives and some misconceptions, necessitated this sensitisation forum.

“I enjoin you to make the best use of this opportunity by participating fully in this forum so as to enhance your chances of benefitting from the various incentive schemes available to operators in the non-oil export sector “, he said.

Speaking, NEPC’s Trade Promotion Advisor ,  Anthony Ajuruchi, listed other incentives to include tax holidays, subsidies, reduced duties paid on goods, and duty waiver granted on some goods.

He commended the management of the NEPC for organising the forum and urged participants to keep faith with the Council.

“This sensitisation will definitely benefit our Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises because knowledge is power.

“Exporters in Imo need this knowledge sharing in order to take full advantage of the incentives just like their counterparts all over the nation who have been enjoying them”, he said.

Co-ordinator of the Imo Exporters Summit, Eze Emma Ekeh, thanked the NEPC for organising the programme and noted, that exporters in Imo were ever ready to access available incentives.