The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company has sold 94 percent of its exhibition space, as preparations for this year’s edition of the trade showcase gather momentum, an official has said.
ZITF Company acting marketing and public relations manager Ms Doreen Dzamatira said the exhibition organiser’s aggressive marketing and promotional campaign over the last six months has paid dividends with most of the exhibition space having been taken to date, while bookings are being made on a daily basis.
“To date, 94 percent of the exhibition space made available for sale has been taken up by a total of 345 organisations, occupying a total of 47 080 square metres. This compares favourably with the booking situation at the same time last year where 260 exhibitors had booked a total of 42 307 square metres,” she said.
This year’s exhibition will run from 21 to 25 April under the theme: Augmenting Trade and Investment Towards a Shared Economic Vision. The exhibitor-mix is expected to be an economic cross-section with exhibits from manufacturers (chemicals, agriculture equipment and fast-moving consumer goods), services (health, information and communications technology, finance education and transport), medical equipment, energy, tourism, printing and packaging, building and construction, Local and Central Government among others.
A total of seven countries namely Belarus, Botswana, Japan, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania have confirmed their participation. Of the 345 booked exhibitors, 42 of them would be exhibiting at the showcase for the first time.
“This favourable booking situation is proof apparent that the country has reaffirmed ZITF as the definitive meeting place for the who’s who of Zimbabwe industry where international trading partners and value chain players come together to engage in mutually beneficial discussions.
“As organisers, we are now firmly focused on preparing to provide an efficient and seamless service to both our local and international exhibitors as they work on their stand preparation and design, and eventually when they come down for the show in April,” said Ms Dzamatira.
As part of fortifying preparations for the showcase the ZITF Company will this month hold stakeholder consultation meetings in Harare and Bulawayo where it will be updating the market on its state of preparedness as well as eliciting feedback on how it can increase value for its participants. The exhibition organiser will also hold exhibitor training master-class where it will be sharing insight around creating and executing a high-return exhibition strategy.
“For the first time ever, we will be setting up a temporary satellite office in the capital (Harare).
This is to enable our Harare customers, who traditionally constitute about 50-55 percent of the participating exhibitors to interface with us in a location convenient for them,” said Ms Dzamatira.
Available services to be offered at the Harare temporary satellite office would include exhibitors’ pre-registration, stand bookings and payment remittances, purchase of tickets and badges as well as booking attendance at concurrent events.
“As part of our strong customer-centric focus, we have also organised a refresher customers service training course for all our front-line staff members to ensure that they are ready and equipped to deliver the superior exhibition experience we have come to be known for,” said Ms Dzamatira.
The trade fair would have three business days with notable events being the ZITF International Business Conference that would be organised in conjunction with the National Economic Consultative Forum on 22 April. The high-level conference will run under the same theme as ZITF 2020, “Augmenting Trade and Investment towards a Shared Economic Vision.”
The inaugural Diplomats Forum would also take place on the same day and would see high-level Zimbabwe Government representation host foreign diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe as well as delegations from their host countries.
The ZITF Company is also collaborating with the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) to host the Manufacturers’ Conference on 23 April while the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) would host their annual Business Luncheon on the same day. The 3rd ZITF Innovators Forum will take place from 21 to 23 April under the theme, “Industrialisation, Modernisation through Innovation.”
“ZITF networking platforms will be enhanced as well including the ZITF Hosted Buyer Programme which will take place from 21 to 23 April. The buyers programme which is being organised in partnership with various industry associations and corporates seeks to provide qualified high-level industry buyers with the opportunity to do business with Zimbabwean suppliers in an organised and efficient environment,” said Ms Dzamatira.
To close the business days, the ZITF Charity Golf Challenge will be played on 23 April.
