Online Reporter
THIS year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair held in Bulawayo last week generated more than US$600 million worth of business transactions, confirmed orders and leads, roughly double last year’s figure and a sign that private sector business breeds success.
Considering that last year’s fair was regarded as the most successful in years, a doubling shows just how important a growing reputation can be, both for exhibitors and business visitors.
Even the growing foreign participation saw this stress on private sector business, with embassies participating being urged to use their very welcome attendance to bring in their own business people rather than just see participation as a public relations exercise.
The growing number of foreign exhibitors showed that approach was successful.
The net result was a highly successful trade fair, and moreover one that reinforces ZITF as the primary shop window of Zimbabwe’s whole range of business sectors, a place and a time when everything was on display.
The organisers of this year’s trade fair made it clear from the start that they would judge the success of ZITF on how much business was generated, rather than on subsidiary factors, which include entertainment and public relations.
They were justified, and they are now looking at passing the milestone of US$1 billion plus in business deals in the near future.
The trade fair becomes ever more important as Zimbabwe starts accelerating its industrial agenda, building up its manufacturing sector into a very large collection of private-sector businesses that can produce quality products that give value for money and largely using Zimbabwean raw materials.
Such an industrial base needs, and will require more and more as time passes, a physical trade fair. No matter how good internet marketing becomes, and it is important, serious buyers will still want to see the actual products, to look under the hood to use a useful analogy.
They will also want to talk to the manufacturers face to face, and quite often the designers and operational managers rather than just marketing staff, and that also needs a physical trade fair.
Being in Bulawayo, it will also be easy for a serious buyer or investor to be shown around a factory.
The total of US$600 million includes the leads, and these have to be followed up promptly. A lead is more than just some vague interest, but rather finding a potential buyer who is genuinely thinking about buying.
Often this might include queries about product modifications, or even new products using similar materials, so the follow-up is not just a salesperson knocking on a door but detailed proposals and costing.
The questions of aftercare and parts inventories and suchlike are also important, and Zimbabwean businesses can probably learn much from their customer queries.
The Government of the Second Republic is very pro-business and pro-investment, and again the organisers stressed that the main Government participation in the fair had to be the agencies backing trade and investment, helping with the detailed advice that the private sector inside and outside Zimbabwe needs.
The Government definitely responded, by making sure that ZimTrade and the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency were there in full force, as well as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, these days an enabler rather than a participant.
There has been stress under the Second Republic on bringing a lot more women and youths into the economic mainstream, and young entrepreneurs and women-led businesses are building up their presence at trade fairs, coming through with good ideas and products.
Even the small business sector participation is changing fast, with the trade fair seen less of a retail fair and far more of bringing to market the sort of specialised products that small businesses tend to excel at making.
In other words using the trade fair as a shop window to seek new markets and gain permanent customers.
Small businesses can get swamped in the huge floods of information swirling around the internet, but when they are at a trade fair they get equal attention.
Since many of the smaller businesses are in the food products line, it seems a physical presence is vital, however attractive a food product looks, it still needs to pass the taste test.
The stronger business emphasis was seen in the concurrent events, bringing together business people from inside and outside Zimbabwe, Government officials responsible for oiling the business and financial works, and others committed to the economic growth of Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is now firmly positioned to be an important item on domestic, regional and even global business calendars and this is one of those cases where success breeds more success.
