By Moses Kaketo
The number of visitors and exhibitors at the 23rd UMA International Trade Fair must have left organizers scratching their heads and wondering whether to continue with the tradition next year.
With a catchy theme of enhancing creativity and innovation for development, the trade show promised a lot of success and display of innovative business ideas across the region.
I visited the show for three consecutive days, there were fewer exhibitors and visitors with majority of the latter being students. Many exhibitors were disappointed noting that they had not sold as they did last year. Not all exhibitors were affected though. It was harvest time for those selling soft drinks and eats since majority were students. Apart from fast foods and drinks, it was a hard sell. Many of the exhibitors where found idle in their stalls.
One exhibitor noted that while the prices of their items were less by 30%, consumers were few and not responding, “our juice goes for Ugx. 20,000 up from Ugx 30,000 on open market, but there are no customers,” she intoned.
Some exhibitors did not appear on the subsequent days of the trade show, and indication of poor response. Exhibitors pay Ugx 5.5m per square meter. To enter the trade show, children paid Ugx. 3,000 while adults paid Ugx. 4,000.
The state of the show
Sources say the declining numbers is due to the Kampala festival event that almost coincides with the show. For the second year, the Kampala festival has been attracting huge numbers and sponsors. With the 2015 version attracting more than two million people and over 50 sponsors including corporate companies like MTN, Airtel, City Tyres, Mukwano Group, Uganda Breweries and TOTAL Uganda.
KCCA reportedly collected Ugx 806m. In 2014, the festival, according to KCCA official report, attracted two million revellers from all corners of Kampala and afar.
UMA says the focus of the trade show is now beyond sales. “We want to get customer confidence; to showcase to the international community that we have capacity of the country’s capacity to supply quality products with consistency.”
However, this was contrary to our findings on ground. During our visit to the expo, we noticed that majority of the goods on display at the show imported, with few locally made Ugandan products, some of which are poorly branded.
After careful observation, it became clear that majority of Ugandan goods at the trade fair exhibit the same quality and characteristics over the years. There is need for improvement in the way the products are exhibited, branding and demonstrations. Tapping into foreign markets require aggressiveness and high level of quality branding and packaging. UMA must invest more in exhibitor education and exposure.
According to UMA, the trade show also seeks to increase public awareness about the products and services on the market as it provides owners of business face to face interaction with customers both local and international. However, with low turnout and majority of them being students, analysts believe UMA may have to rethink how to repackage the show to attract the kind of people who take decisions. It is rare to meet top executives at the show. And that is what is killing its vibrancy and success.
UMA must seriously introduce a platform for networking where international exhibitors meet up with local business community for franchising, distribution and other partnership opportunities.
On a positive note, some Ugandan firms who have embraced quality are already accessing international markets thanks to the trade show. One such firm is Jesa Farm. Their Milk is now exported and selling in Germany, USA, Boston USA, Ghana and Thailand. It is also available on Brussels airline. Perhaps UMA needs to organize meeting with such firms to share success stories with others.
A business forum event at the expo should encourage such successful stories like Good African coffee, Jesa, etc. to share experiences and insights on how to tap into international markets.
Establishing a fund to nature local businesses for global markets would also be handy.
About the author:
Moses Kaketo works with Summit Business Review Magazine, holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Uganda Management Institute, A professional diploma in marketing (CIM) and bachelor’s degree in Education. He sees business in everything. He loves writing business news, reviews and analyses.
Twitter: @mkaketo
