Cape Town based Vuka Group, the new brand name for Clarion Events Africa following a MBO, has announced the signing of two collaborative deals with Smarter Mobility Africa and Kinetic Events.
Vuka Group CEO David Ashdown said the deals were part of a collaborative approach to assist the industry fully recover from the global pandemic. “We are very excited to add to our industry portfolios and feel this will be an exciting learning curve for the group. As Vuka Group, we can look at our organisation as a ‘machine’ that other complimentary businesses will be able to partner with to grow their portfolios, whilst building shared intellectual property. We are thrilled to work with these amazing individuals,” said Ashdown.
Smarter Mobility Africa launched its first event in 2019 with the South African National Department of Transport and Gauteng Provincial Departments for Roads and Transport as key strategic government partners.
“We are incredibly excited to have partnered with Vuka Group, as this means that we will be able to take what we have built as a small start-up mission driven company to new levels due to the size and scale of Vuka Group,” said Smarter Mobility Africa founder, Ben Pullen. “Over the past few years, we have been able to achieve incredible milestones with our small team, dedicated partners and limited resources. Partnering with Vuka Group will allow us to grow and achieve our mission of inspiring and transforming mobility across the continent, accelerating the transition towards smarter, accessible mobility for all.
The 2021 Smarter Mobility Africa event which ran in Gauteng this week, saw 121 in-person delegates and over 500 virtual delegates in attendance. In April 2022, the team will once again run its Electric Vehicle Road Trip Africa (EVRT Africa) - an on-the-road activation across the whole of South Africa, engaging with key stakeholders and media about the future of electric mobility on the continent.
Kinetic Events, an international business-to-business conference and exhibitions producer, has established itself as a key strategic information provider to the Retail sector and has a track record of content creation for over 150 conferences and exhibitions spanning three continents, which include two of Africa’s foremost shows on the Customer Experience (CX) and eCommerce calendars, which are the largest gatherings of their kind respectively.
“This collaboration with Vuka Group will allow us to scale our Customer Experience and eCommerce shows utilising the marketing and operational resources offered with the partnership,” said Kinetic Events MD, Terry Southam. “Vuka Group has gained an exciting new retail portfolio which includes four events and an on-demand educational content platform which fits right in with their established and successful media business.”
David Ashdown added: “These working collaboration projects are well-aligned to complement our approach and existing industry sector exposure. The portfolio extensions fit our model of delivering a series of in-person and digital touch points to keep people and organisations connected to information and each other. We believe the Retail and Smart Mobility & Transport portfolios are primed to scale quickly as recognised and valued connectors within their fields of activity.”
