Nathan London assisted DFID and the World Bank in designing this US $265 million program in four states of Nigeria: Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and Cross River. The purpose of the program is to boost investment by improving the business environment and to improve the competitiveness of six promising industries, those with potential for the fast growth and job creation that can benefit large numbers of the poor, and that can contribute to economic diversification and transformation.

Those industries are entertainment, hospitality, ICT, meat and leather, construction, and wholesale and retail trade.

Specific goals include:

• Raising scores on subnational Doing Business indicators for investment, especially through reform of tax and land administration and better investment promotion and facilitation services.
• Applying the Making Markets Work Better for the Poor (M4P) approach to the six industries. The M4P approach aims for systemic change through policy and institutional change, investment in market infrastructure, workforce development, and business innovation.

DFID and the World Bank approved the project design in March 2011; GEMS is scheduled to end in December 2016.