NASENI-TROMENT Biotechnologies Targets ECOWAS Export Market: 450 Million People in Reach

NASENI-TROMENT Biotechnologies has outlined its strategy for ECOWAS regional expansion, aiming to position Nigeria as the primary supplier of rapid diagnostic tests to the Economic Community of West African States — a regional bloc with a combined population exceeding 450 million people.

The ECOWAS Opportunity

West Africa carries a disproportionate share of the global burden for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. The WHO African Region accounts for 94% of global malaria cases and deaths. Nigeria alone recorded approximately 58 million malaria cases in 2021. Access to affordable, reliable rapid diagnostic tests remains a critical gap across the region — particularly in rural and peri-urban areas where laboratory infrastructure is limited.

Through the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), member states benefit from the elimination of customs duties on intra-regional trade for qualifying goods. NASENI-TROMENT’s locally manufactured diagnostics qualify for these preferential trade terms — giving N-CheckUp products a significant price advantage over imported alternatives in ECOWAS markets.

Building the Export Infrastructure

The Samir Hani Group, TROMENT’s parent company, brings established commercial relationships and logistics networks across Nigeria, Lebanon, Canada, Qatar, Sudan, and Benin — providing the infrastructure foundation for regional export operations.

Eng. Bashir Karam, Head of Operations, noted that production capacity has been planned from the outset with export in mind: “Our facility is designed for 600 million tests per year. Nigeria’s domestic market is important — but West Africa’s need is enormous, and we have built the capacity to serve it.”