About Us

When one hears “Closing the Gap between Gown and Town” as a team for an economic investment forum and entrepreneurship trade fair, one’s mind might start to wonder. The truth remains that the need to close this gap cannot be overemphasised. In the words of Marion, “it is important to create an effective working relationship between the business community (the town) and the academia (the gown).”

With the growing knowledge-based economy and the need for innovation, it is imperative for a country like Nigeria to start thinking towards building bridges, that is, to link up theories and knowledge that sprung out daily from the academic world to enhance and consolidate innovation in the Nigerian economy. It is against this backdrop that the Nile University of Nigeria has taken bold steps toward building solid bridges (developing sustainable economic policies) to close up the gap between the “Gown” and the “Town”.

This Entrepreneurship Trade Fair (ETF) will be hosted by the Nile University of Nigeria between 21-22nd of March 2018, and is organized by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The initiative was born out of the idea to bridge the cultural divide between the town and gown that still exists today. Businesses are interested in specific goals and worldly measures of success such as profit, maximising shareholders’ funds, meeting customers’ needs and growing the size of the practice. The ideal of a university is that it is a place where people seek out truth within the framework of logic and evidence. So the town and the gown are, to a significant extent, on separate missions. The irony is that these two separate missions seek one common goal. It appears that both the town and the gown will improve tremendously in their various quests if the both missions come together and harness the power and stride of each sector.

It is in view of this that the organisers have incorporated ETF with The International Conference on Social Science (ICSS) Africa, with themes on business administration, finance and accounting, economics and political sciences. This collaborative event is the third of its kind, and has recorded enormous achievements in the past years.

The event is designed to be an economic and investment opportunity hub where investors, stakeholders and major keys players in different sectors will converge to chart a way forward toward boasting the economic input and output of Nigeria. Foreign investors and business owners all over the world have received this initiative warmly and have concluded plans on coming to Nigeria to be part and parcel of this wonderful event. Investors from East Africa, Turkey and others will all be at the trade fair. The event is proudly supported by, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Association of Traders and Investors West Africa, This is therefore a chance to show your company and see what people produce in the heart of Nigeria, Abuja.