John Whelan: Why Irish firms face greater challenges doing business in Nigeria

Despite having 13 embassies across the 50 African states, Ireland does minimal trade with the continent and the difficulties are increasing

Guinness, an African favourite since the 1960s, has had to weather Nigeria's exchange rate volatility for decades.

Sun, 06 Aug, 2023 - 17:04

John Whelan

An expert in Irish and international trade, John Whelan is a former Chief Executive of the Irish Exporters Association, a role he held for more than a decade and previously served as an export industry adviser to the AIB Bank Group.

Last week GSK, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, employing 1,800 people in its Dungarvan, Cork, Sligo, and Dublin plants, announced plans to stop doing business directly in Nigeria, putting the brakes on its extensive activity in Africa’s largest economy after over half a century of having its own subsidiary there.

Although GSK has not specified a reason for the move, in common with many Irish companies trading there, it has found it increasingly difficult to handle foreign currency payment issues. GSK announced that it will move the distribution of its products to a third-party Nigerian company, which is the route followed by many of its peers.