At a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in Coimbatore on Thursday, a delegation from five African nations discussed about opportunities in textiles, food and agro-processing, agriculture, leather and leather garments, renewable energy, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and education where Indian industrialists and entrepreneurs can find business potential in African countries.

Mali, Seychelles, Uganda, Ehtiopia and Botswana were the African nations that had their representative talk about business opportunities in their respective countries.

The ambassador to India from Mali, Niankoro Yeah Samake said that his country wishes to explore investment and business opportunities from India and Indian businessmen in textile, gold, education and hospitality management. Almost 75% of the country's work force is employed in agriculture and as much 59% of their export is cotton. So, they would like to explore potential from textile industries here in Coimbatore. Hence, he invited a delegation of texpreneurs to Mali to explore business opportunities.

Mali is interested in textiles, Seychelles, a country known for its tourism, Uganda is interested in investments in pharmaceuticals, healthcare, automobiles and education. In Botswana, the population of cattle is higher than that of people and there is enough potential for leather. Until now they have exported leather, but we now wish to develop the industry in manufacturing leather products while, Ethiopia would like to explore opportunities in agro-processing, textiles and garment, leather, pharmaceuticals and construction.