THE Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company says the just-ended fair was a success, considering that 93% of exhibitors had realised a fair amount of business during the show.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
ZITF general manager Nomathemba Ndlovu told journalists at a Press conference on Saturday that the fair had met its objectives.
The fair was held under the theme Innovate, Integrate, Industrialise and was officially opened by Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé.
“Preliminary survey results show that 93% of exhibitors did a fair-to-considerable amount of business during the show. From a sample size of 100 exhibitors, 47% indicated that they had received immediate orders, while the rest said they had generated promising leads for the future,” Ndlovu said.
She said the show occupied a total of 44 992 square metres representing 95% of the space available for sale.
“We had a total of 675 exhibitors taking up space. Of these, 386 were direct exhibitors whilst 289 were indirect exhibits,” she said.
Ndlovu said 16 other countries took part in this year’s show and were represented by 28 direct foreign exhibitors and 77 indirect exhibitors.
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National representation came from Botswana, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Russia, South Africa, and Zambia while China, Cyprus, Germany, Tanzania and the US were represented by individual companies.
Ndlovu said ZITF 2016 saw a 40% increase in business visitor numbers with 4 935 attendees going through the gates over the first three days, compared to 3 000 in 2015. The business visitors came from China, Mozambique, Portugal, South Africa, Uganda, USA, US Virgin Islands and Zanzibar, among others.
“From a sample size of 215 business visitors, 76% of the respondents were heavily involved in the buying activities of their companies, that is, are from advisory to final decision maker. This shows that ZITF is attracting the right calibre of business visitor with an appropriate level of influence,” she said.
She said all the ZITF 2016 concurrent business networking events were well-attended.
She said the international business conference attracted 480 delegates comprising leaders, foreign dignitaries, government ministers and officials as well as representatives from academia, and civil society.
Ndlovu said the inaugural manufacturer’s breakfast, which focused on mechanisation for industrialisation brought together most players necessary to make re-industrialisation a reality and highlighted practical ways for industry to re-tool as well as to re-engineer industrial processes.
She said they made a good start on its strategy of back-to-basics “so we will be working more closely with the manufacturing sector to use the platform for ZITF to find new markets for locally-made goods”
“Although we had a significant improvement in visitor numbers this year, we believe there is still opportunity to grow our visitor base and profile.”
Preparations were underway for next year’s fair to be held from April 25 to 29.
