The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
At a Tanzanian stall exhibiting Masaai shoes and belts, the man laughs and says he find Uganda to be different.
“The market here is small and quite different, the currency also is a problem, we produce our shoes in Tanzania and we have priced them according to the money we spent in terms of transport, tax, and space yet many people are complaining that they are too expensive, I don’t think we will be exhibiting again,” he says.
The story is more or less the same for other foreign exhibitors, especially first timers. Most say their expectations have not been met. Some who have exhibited in other countries say the organisers here do not know what international trade fairs should be.
Local companies are different. At the Tororo Cement Corporation stall, Alok R. Kala, Chief Marketing Manager, says they have been exhibiting for the last 24 years (since trade fair started) and are very happy with the fair.
“We have met so many customers and even suppliers in these fairs,” he says.
Most Ugandan exhibitors are in the grounds. Officials of Nile Fishing Company, also suppliers of Yamaha motorbikes, say the fair has been great and they have made sales and long lasting clients. At Steel and Tube, there is nothing but praise for the organisers. The only complain is the muddiness on the ground.
“Ask the organisers to at least pave the grounds,” the say.
Meanwhile, all around me, it is merry-making and fun as more students have arrived. It is almost lunch time and the air is filled with smells of mchomo and of course rolex. Some students bargain for detergents, others buy makeup kits, while many swing on the merry-go-round.
Leaving the show, I realise that local companies and those with offices or suppliers in the country benefit from the UMA Trade Fair. But first time foreign exhibitors have nothing to smile about.
Biggest show ever
I set up a meeting with Ssebagala Kizito; the Director of Uganda Manufactures Association to find out his views.
Ssebagala says this year has seen the biggest exhibitions in the 24-year life of the UMA Trade Fair. There were 1,360 exhibitors of which 450 were foreign exhibitors from 26 countries. Ssebagala recalls how in 1996, when they started having foreign exhibitors, they had about 80 of them. He says UMA wants the number of foreign exhibitors to grow and confesses that the organisers had never noted any need of translators. He promises to work on it.
Ssebagala says foreign exhibitors whose expectations were not met should not blame organisers. He says three days during the exhibition, from Oct. 4 – 7, were set aside for Business to Business (B2B) interaction and deals. He says, unfortunately this time, many business people that were supposed to come and meet with the exhibitors to exchange views on different products took long to decide on whether to come to the show or not.
“By the time they came, the three days had elapsed and the grounds were open for all public including school children making it difficult to conduct any kind of business,” Ssebagala says.
He says even with the delay, there were B2BS meeting taking place in the course of the show.
He says foreign exhibitors who had prior arrangements with the management to have one on one with interested partners and suppliers met them.
“Most foreign exhibitors take these meetings for granted and think that they will happen in their stalls, we had three solid days in the Conference Hall having those discussions but people preferred to sit at their stalls,” Ssebagala says, “there is no way I could know they wanted one-on-one.”
“We had one on one business meetings with Russians and Egyptians in the boardroom and they got people who want to partner with them,” he said.
He says the only promises they make to foreign exhibitors are that they could hopefully sell their goods, meet partners, agents and get a secure business environment. They are also informed of the government incentives to foreign investors in terms of land, tax waivers and exemptions, and security.
But Ssebagala says they want more local stalls at the show as their main aim is to exhibit more locally made goods. But he says local manufacturers do not participate because they think the show is for big companies.
He says UMA moves around the country and encourages manufacturers of unique products to come and exhibit. They give them free space and this year there were 60 such exhibitors. Some are even given transport.
Ssebagala says UMA plans to relocate the show to a bigger and a cleaner place since numbers keep getting bigger and bigger every year. He also says there are plans to zone the grounds so that similar goods are exhibited in the same area and the fair grounds are better organised.
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editor@independent.co.ug
