MTE EXHIBITIONS •
2023
celebrating 30 YEARS
Mining and Technical Exhibitions
MTE CELEBRATES ITS 30th BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY IN ZAMBIA 2023
By Sharyn Macnamara
Andrew Macnamara of MTE talks to African Mining about the company ’ s 30th year in business , which coincides with its upcoming expo tour in Zambia in the month of September .
Mining and Technical Exhibitions ( MTE ) travels to Zambia annually and its trilogy of expos is one of the highlights of the company ’ s calendar . The travelling exhibition company will host three consecutive shows within a week , starting with the Kalumbila Expo on 18 September , stopping off at Solwezi on 20 September and ending the tour on 22 September in Kitwe . This year will be a particularly special tour as it coincides with the company ’ s 30th birthday celebration .
Andrew Macnamara , operations director , has been with the company for over 14 years now . When asked what his most memorable experience has been at an MTE tradeshow – auspiciously , top of this list , was an experience in Zambia . “ In 2015 the Zambian Minister of Mines and Minerals Development , honourable Christopher Bwalya Yaluma , attended and addressed our MTE Kitwe Expo , which of course bears testament to the reputation and the role we have built as an industry stakeholder . MTE strives to support a modernised and safe mining and industrial sector through our solutions driven tradeshows , where together with our valued suppliers , we showcase new tech and consistently evolving innovation to improve safety and efficiencies in the industry , all year long .”
Over the past 30 years , MTE has made most certainly made its mark in the travelling exhibition industry in SADC . The company ’ s customised high impact exhibitions are well known across many industries – mining , power , cement , sugar , port and harbour , and paper and pulp industries – for bringing buyer and supplier together , creating worthwhile networking and the sharing of challenges , solutions and opportunities for all parties in the value chain .
The evolution of MTE Macnamara reminisces : the company started from very humble beginnings . The late Tony Wightman founded the company in 1993 , starting the MTE journey in a land cruiser with a trailer – travelling from rec club to rec club in the mining industry to showcase solutions to the end-user . He would host 10 to 20 suppliers at the local mining rec club , where operations ’ management would go for a beer after work . Suppliers would engage with interested mine bosses eager to improve their operations .
Since those early days and after Interact Media Defined ( IMD https :// interactmedia . co . za /) acquired the company in 2004 , MTE has become a force to be reckoned with in southern Africa , with its trademark yellow and orange tents and two 24-ton trucks – Timon and Pumbaa . The company ’ s lean team of seven committed individuals now hosts between 24 and 30 shows annually , which range from smaller , intimate expos – usually on site at an operation – to large trade expos , visited by multi-disciplinary decision makers , from artisans to top management professionals , across a number of industries . Macnamara notes that the secret to the company ’ s success lies in its relationships with both the multi-industry operations and the suppliers of products and services to the sectors .
The MTE team has grown the business astronomically since 1993 , travelling over 300 000km by truck and with more than 1.65 million
www . africanmining . co . za African Mining Publication African Mining African Mining • September 2023 • 27