RusselSmith at West Africa IMT 2026: From Exhibition Floor to Omnifactory
RusselSmith Group, Nigeria’s leading provider of additive manufacturing and asset integrity solutions, participated as a Gold Sponsor and exhibitor at the inaugural West Africa Industrialisation, Manufacturing & Trade (WAIMT) Summit & Exhibition, held from 3 to 5 March 2026 at the Landmark Events Centre, Lagos.
Officially endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the three-day event convened policymakers, manufacturers, technology providers, investors and other stakeholders from Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, and the wider region.
On the opening day, RusselSmith CEO, Kayode Adeleke featured on the panel session titled “Harnessing Digital Innovation and Technology to Unlock & Scale Industrial Progress”, noting that digitalisation cannot outpace industrialisation. He added that clear manufacturing priorities, aligned policies, targeted incentives, and patient capital must come first because technology delivers where industrial processes already exist at scale.
According to him, “The conversations at WAIMT 2026 confirmed what we already know from our operations: West Africa has the industrial ambition, the natural resources, and increasingly the policy environment to build genuinely competitive manufacturing capacity. What is needed now is execution. RusselSmith’s role is to demonstrate that advanced manufacturing at international standards is not a future aspiration for this region, it is happening here, now.”
Earlier that day, Adedoyin Yusuf, Manager, Business Development, co-presented with Dr. Gabriel Farotade, Senior Deputy Manager, Advanced Manufacturing – both of RusselSmith, on Driving Supply Chain Resilience and Regional Development through Industrial 3D Manufacturing, examining how localising parts production reduces lead times, lowers import dependency, builds operational resilience, and closes capability gaps in regional supply chains. Yusuf also moderated ‘Easing the Movement of People, Goods, and Services Across the World’s Largest Liberalised Market’, facilitating dialogue on regulatory alignment, logistics efficiency, and cross-border trade as enablers of AfCFTA implementation.
The second day centred on the international exhibition, where RusselSmith engaged industry professionals, investors, and government representatives at its stand. H.E. Senator John Owan Enoh, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, visited during the ministerial tour and was briefed on the company’s additive manufacturing capabilities and their alignment with the Federal Government’s industrial policy objectives. The second day’s events concluded with the WAIMT Awards Gala Dinner, where RusselSmith received the Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation of the Year award.
On the final day, Senator Enoh led a delegation to RusselSmith’s facilities on a site visit, where Mr. Adeleke presented the company’s journey across more than a thousand completed projects, its value proposition of supply chain sovereignty for Nigeria, and the Omnifactory roadmap. He called on the government for continued support and patient capital.
Senator Enoh announced that RusselSmith would be the first company invited to present at the upcoming Industrial Revolution Work Group (IRWG) meeting, describing the visit as the start of a formal relationship between the Ministry and the company. He then toured the Omnifactory and operated one of the metal 3D manufacturing machines.
The Minister said, “The innovation by RusselSmith will make Nigeria self-sufficient. What ordinarily takes six months in the supply chain can now be achieved in a fraction of the time, and that matters enormously for industry and for the future of this country.”
A second delegation of industry leaders and stakeholders from the summit subsequently visited the facilities. Following a presentation by the CEO on RusselSmith’s journey and capabilities, the delegation was taken on a tour of the Omnifactory, gaining a firsthand view of the company’s metallic and non-metallic 3D manufacturing operations.
RusselSmith’s participation at WAIMT 2026 reflects its alignment with the Nigeria Industrial Policy 2025, which targets raising manufacturing’s contribution to GDP to 15 per cent by 2030 through import substitution, local value addition, and advanced manufacturing development, gaps the company’s Omnifactory is directly positioned to address. Across three days, RusselSmith demonstrated that the tools, expertise, and ambition to build a competitive industrial base in West Africa are not only aspirational, but operational.