NACCIMA Representatives Complete GIZ-ECOWAS Training on Agricultural Market Intelligence
Oru Leonard
The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has participated in a five-day Training of Trainers (ToT) programme on Market Analytics and Business Intelligence for Agricultural Trade organised by the German development agency, GIZ, in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The training, held from September 21 to 25, 2026, in Accra, Ghana, was hosted by the Africa Trade Academy and brought together representatives of Chambers of Commerce, Business Membership Organisations (BMOs) and other relevant institutions from Ghana and across ECOWAS Member States.
NACCIMA was represented by Dr. Praise Abina, Senior Research Manager, and Mr. Inya Willem, Research Manager. Representatives of the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI), Ghana Chambers and other participating institutions also attended the programme.
The five-day training focused on strengthening participants’ capacity to use data, market analytics and business intelligence tools to improve agricultural trade and competitiveness across the West African region.
The programme opened on September 21 with participant introductions, an overview of the training and introductory sessions on Market Analytics and Business Intelligence for Agricultural Trade.
Participants were introduced to data-driven approaches for understanding agricultural markets, supporting trade decisions and improving competitiveness within agricultural value chains.
The second day focused on agricultural value-chain analysis, market and price intelligence, as well as data management.
Participants examined methods for collecting, processing, managing and analysing relevant agricultural data to generate actionable market insights.
On Day Three, the training moved into Business Intelligence, Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) processes, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Microsoft Power BI.
Through practical sessions, participants gained experience in data transformation, dashboard development and visualisation, with emphasis on converting raw agricultural data into useful information for evidence-based decision-making.
The practical component continued on Day Four through group exercises and case studies.
Group Two, led by Dr. Praise Abina of NACCIMA, developed a Nigerian agricultural supply-chain case study and interactive Power BI dashboards.
The project examined key areas including logistics delays, transit times, transportation costs, spoilage, storage utilisation and delivery performance, demonstrating how business intelligence tools can be applied to identify challenges and support improved supply-chain management.
The programme ended on September 25 with a study visit to the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX).
During the visit, participants were exposed to commodity trading, price discovery, quality standards, market information systems, warehousing and the Warehouse Receipt System.
The study visit provided an opportunity for participants to relate the analytical tools and concepts acquired during the training to their practical application within an operational commodity market.
The training is expected to strengthen the capacity of participating institutions to transform agricultural data into actionable market and business intelligence, with potential applications in trade facilitation, business decision-making, policy advocacy and agricultural market efficiency across the ECOWAS region.
(NACCIMA Secretariate, September 26, 2026)
