THE majority of exhibitors who took part at the mining, engineering and transport exhibition (Mine Entra) managed to seal “lucrative” deals, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company has revealed.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
Running under the theme Mineral Beneficiation: Catalyst for Economic Growth, the fair attracted a total of 251 exhibitors, an increase of 64% compared to last year’s closing total of 153.
“The majority of exhibitors whom we have engaged with have indicated that they are pleased with the quality of attendees as they were able to discuss and seal lucrative deals. While the remainder had made good leads that were likely to yield positive results in the short to medium term,” ZITF Company marketing and public relations manager Stella Nkomo, said.
A total of 3 017 business visitors had attended the exhibition as at midday of the last day, compared to last year’s closing total of 3 410.
It was expected that final figures would be almost on par.
Of the 251 total exhibitors, 225 were direct exhibitors, while 26 were indirect, that is subsidiaries or partners of a direct exhibitors.
A total of 7 280 square metres of space was taken up, representing 90,3% of available space.
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Four foreign nations took part in this year’s show, namely China, Japan, South Africa and Zambia. They were represented by 12 individual companies and five subsidiaries, Nkomo said.
“The increase in international foreign participation is reflective of a successful national re-engagement strategy targeted at influencing investment in identified key drivers of the Zimbabwean economy,” she said.
Exhibitors who spoke to NewsDay confirmed clinching deals that they would be pursuing going forward.
“We had a variety of exhibitors, that’s something which is very good. We were able to clinch deals which we will be pursuing. We have never missed a year, so we will be coming again next year,” Chloride Zimbabwe and Exide Express head of marketing, Panganai Kufakunesu, said.
Local participation was also 55% up from last year with 234 exhibitors taking part.
Of these, 55% of exhibitors came from Harare, while 39% came from Bulawayo and the remainder from other cities.
“The quality of exhibits was also quite impressive, offering a mix of equipment and services suitable for different sizes of mining operations as well as goods and services for other activities within the mining value chain,” Nkomo said.
She said popular exhibits included locally-assembled granby cars, underground supervision and transport vehicles, turnkey mining plants for small scale miners, many of which had not been seen at the show for a while.
