Mine Entra opens on good note

Business Reporter
This year’s edition of Mine Entra opened on a good note with all exhibitors in place by late afternoon, Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Company chairman Mr Bekithemba Nkomo said yesterday. Addressing a press conference, he said 82 percent (or 6 180 square metres) of the exhibition space had been taken up by the 234 exhibitors taking part.

Of these, 216 were direct exhibitors, with 15 of them foreign.
There were a further 18 indirect exhibitors who included eight foreign firms.

Three foreign countries were taking part this year, up from one last year.
The foreign countries are South Africa, China and the United kingdom.

Last year, only South Africa participated.
However, Mr Nkomo noted that most local companies taking part at the exhibition were agents of foreign companies.

“The nature of Mine Entra is that even if the company is Zimbabwean, they are agents that represent foreign principals,” he said.
Among the local exhibitors were small-scale miners under the banner of Women in Mining and the Zimbabwe Artisanal Small Scale miners Council.

Mr Nkomo said the majority of small-scale miners who attended Mine Entra wanted to sample new technology and products related to their sectors.
He said Harare contributed the bulk of the exhibitors with 51 percent. Bulawayo companies made up 45 percent while the remainder were from other cities.

“Most of the companies that booked and paid are participating. We had a few last minute cancellations,” he said.
Companies that withdrew cited lack of funding as the reason.

Mr Nkomo also said major mining houses in the country were not exhibiting at the event.
“It is worth noting that while the big mining houses are not exhibiting, they are participating in the exhibition as buyers and conference delegates”.

He said the ZITF was looking at introducing new sub sectors related to the mining, engineering and transport sectors in future editions.
He said a new addition to this year’s edition, the building and construction sector, had been a success.

“The building and construction sector which we introduced this year, has taken six percent of the total space sold. We see this as a feature of future Mine Entra editions. Also in the future, we hope to attract more sectors that are key in mining, engineering and transport industries,” he said.