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World Business Chicago is actively positioning the city as the primary North American gateway for West African commerce, with municipal agencies taking the lead in driving subnational economic partnerships under the U.S.-Nigeria Commercial and Investment Partnership.
The city’s official economic development agency targets high-growth Nigerian sectors—particularly fintech, agribusiness, and automated logistics—to expand the bilateral trade footprint across the region.
Karla Orozco, Vice President of Foreign Direct Investment at World Business Chicago, confirmed the agency offers free advisory services to help foreign companies launch and scale within the U.S. market.
Speaking during an interview with News Central’s correspondent, Sagir Ibrahim, she said, “My main job is to attract international companies to come to the city,” Orozco said. “If you’re a company from Nigeria and you would like to explore the U.S. market, we will be more than welcome to help.”
Orozco pointed specifically to Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, noting that Chicago’s financial infrastructure and venture capital offer a strategic launching pad for African firms.
“We see some sectors that are definitely of interest for us. One is food and agriculture, but the company that we have our eyes on right now is a fintech establishment,” Orozco explained.
“We’re definitely in a very unique position to be able to attract these Nigerian companies to the city and make sure that they start here in Chicago, growing through the whole U.S. and maybe Latin America and North America as well.”
Trade data from Chicago’s O’Hare corridor underlines the growing economic tie, with bilateral trade between the region and Nigeria doubling over the past decade from $13.4 million to nearly $30 million.
While U.S. exports to Nigeria currently account for 95 percent of that volume, Orozco expects investment from West African small and medium-sized enterprises to accelerate job creation and financial integration in both economies.
