San Francisco, CA, September 21, 2022, Chainwire
To strengthen its contribution to the Nigerian economy, the Lekki Free Zone Development Corporation (LFZ) is in talks with blockchain technology company Gluwa. The two are seeking to collaborate and use blockchain to facilitate trade cooperation, growth and sustainability between new and existing free zone businesses. The partnership will also explore the creation of a virtual free zone within the Lekki Free Zone.
Mr. Tomiwa Idowu, Head of Strategy, Innovation and Special Projects at Lekki Free Zone, revealed that discussions are ongoing between the LZF, the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority and the Gluwa team.
In a statement, Idowu explained that once the partnership is finalized, a dashboard will be created for tokenizing commodities into NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and for new businesses and modern companies looking to fund operations There are businesses offering digital asset-backed loans and/or expanding their businesses, similar to the integration of OpenSea and Compound.
Idowu shares his vision to innovate the trade and industrial sector in Nigeria and across Africa, bringing it into the modern information age centered on the Lekki Free Zone.
“I am very excited about the huge potential of this partnership, which will further establish Lagos State as Africa’s leading place in innovation, economic development and revenue generation,” Idou said.
He praised Lagos State Governor Babajid Sanwo-Oulu as a beacon of progress and hope for the entire country, saying, “Our Governor has always believed in fast-paced development, which involves using technology to go beyond bureaucracy and directly address immediate concerns. The problem.”
Gluwa CEO Tae Oh noted that the company is keen to work with the Lekki Free Zone as it is the largest and most developed free zone in Nigeria, close to the deep sea port and Dangote refinery, and said: “Trade has always been the cornerstone of Nigeria’s economy, Annual transaction volume is in the billions of dollars.”
He added: “We believe that the digitization of the industry allows us to exploit its full potential. For example, combining standard processes for the digitization of goods manufactured or processed within a region with a marketplace system on web3 will allow manufacturers to conduct global trade.
“All trade will be registered and benefit from Lekki Free Zone incentives such as zero taxation and free movement of goods. Once the goods are cleared for export through the customs processing centre in the zone, they will be shipped directly from the Lekki Free Zone through the deep sea port.
“This will reduce delays, eliminate human error, multiply Nigeria’s non-oil exports, and maintain a positive trade balance for the country. While we are still working out details and specific frameworks with NEPZA, we believe this is African business and trade s future.”
About Groix
Gluwa is an open finance platform that uses blockchain technology to connect capital in developed markets with lending opportunities in emerging markets. By providing a decentralized infrastructure track to raise and distribute capital anywhere in the world, investors can use the Gluwa Invest platform to participate in debt financing transactions with emerging market fintech lenders, earning up to 15% APY.
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