AFRICA – The UFI Middle East and Africa Open Seminar, an event co-located with Manch Communications’ Expo Summit Africa, has highlighted organisers’ growing interest in African events.
The event, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on 15–17 March, was moderated by CTICC CEO Rashid Toefy. The event attracted 70 participants from 18 countries in four continents including China, the UK, the USA and Thailand.
Sessions centred around the theme ‘Reality, Potential, Access and Needs’, and set out to address the industry’s concern for infrastructure and the need to improve current exhibition facilities in many countries in the region.
“It has been an immense pleasure for me to host this UFI Seminar/Expo Summit here in Cape Town, and to be able to share with the international exhibition industry the potential of this massive market,” said Toefy.
The CTICC is to double the size of its exhibition facilities within the next few years, a move Toefy said further demonstrates a clear sign business is booming in Cape Town.
Speakers included Essam El Haddad, chairman of the Arabian Development Group in Egypt, who gave a very frank account of the Arab Spring and its implications on the exhibition industry. Johannesburg Expo Centre’s Craig Newman gave an insight on understanding business in Africa, and JWC Cologne’s Dr Gerd Weber spoke on the industry’s concerns for regional support and infrastructure.
Reed Exhibitions France’s Sylvie Fourn and Tarsus CEO Douglas Emslie both provided case studies on their experience of working in Africa and geo-cloning key brands in the region. The event was rounded off by Ungerboeck’s Thorsten Kolbinger and Corbin Ball who looked at new technologies for the exhibition industry.
“We are particularly glad UFI could successfully stage its first event in Sub-Saharan Africa and create this networking and knowledge platform for its members and the industry professionals at large in such a successful event,” said UFI Middle East Africa regional manager Ibrahim Alkhaldi. “This was possible only with the involvement and support of our partner in this event Manch Communications, and our host CTICC.”
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