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really interesting market ” although the attraction is restricted by rules limiting foreign ownership in service businesses to 50 %.
Nigeria , with its population of well over 200 million , is a hugely important market in the region . It “ opened and stayed open ” says Angus . Montgomery ran its Propack West Africa event there in September and Angus reports “ our exhibitors at that show said that they had one of the best shows they ’ ve ever had in Nigeria ”. The show was a good deal smaller than in the past , he said , “ but the quality and the time that they were able to spend with the people on site was so much better that they had a better show overall .” As organisers around the world are finding , they are now faced with the dilemma of how to balance the business appeal of a larger show with the positive response to these smaller post-Covid events .
Meanwhile , South Africa moved at the end of September to lockdown Level 2 which means that gatherings are restricted to 750 people indoors and 2,000 outdoors . While an improvement on the previous Level 3 limit of 250 people indoors , this is clearly still very restrictive for business event organisers . Craig Newman is hopeful of moving to a situation where all restrictions can be removed , something the government has said can happen once vaccination levels reach 70 %. “ It will be 50 % by December if the campaign kicks in ,” says Newman .
Participation from Europe and North America is very important at a lot of South African events . Restrictions on people coming into the country from those regions were lifted “ some time ago ”, Newman says , although they remain in place for many other parts of Africa .
For many service providers in the South African exhibitions market , however , any return to business will come too late . “ In South Africa ”, Newman laments , “ 90 %, or possibly even more , service
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providers are either out of business or in business rescue ”. Those who have managed to survive , he says , have only done so by being able to diversify and provide services outside the exhibition industry . “ We were fortunate to be able to remain standing ”, he says , referring to GL ’ s Live business division in the country .
Newman says that most of the exhibition organisers in South Africa have survived . Several of the internationals there have , though , either significantly reduced their presence or closed their offices . Clarion ’ s African operations have been bought out by local management and , as recently reported here in EW , rebranded as Vuka . CEO David Ashdown commented on how “ not being able to run any live events for 19 months has necessitated a rapid and exciting evolution of our business .”
The United Nations says that there are 54 countries in Africa today , giving those focused on the region a huge range of options for business development . Montgomery ’ s Angus notes that while the company already organises events in Zambia , Botswana and Ghana from its main bases in Johannesburg , Lagos and Nairobi , the core markets of South Africa , Nigeria , and Kenya are likely to remain its main focus .
Angus did note that there have been interesting developments in Rwanda where the national Convention Bureau and Kigali Convention Centre are relatively recent new members of UFI . That shows , he says , “ that there is a focus in government to grow their economy through exhibitions , and they ’ re trying to brand themselves like a Singapore of Africa ”. Like Singapore , Rwanda is a small country and prior to the pandemic it had been growing fast . But , for the time being , it ’ s small size remains a limiting factor in terms of its attractiveness to international organisers .
Outside South Africa , venue size is
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“ Africa is
a market
with great
opportunity
but it is not
always for
the faint of
heart ”
Below : Africa Oil Week
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also an issue limiting growth across much of the continent . Even in the large markets such as Kenya and Nigeria , the venues are only 3,000 – 4,000sqm gross . This makes those markets much less attractive to the larger international companies as the upside is so limited . Montgomery adds temporary outdoor structures for its larger shows in Nigeria . “ Because we are a private company , we are keen to look at the long-term vision ,” Angus says , hoping that the facilities will gradually evolve to allow that vision to be realised .
Africa is clearly a market with great opportunity , but it is not always for the faint of heart .
In the far north of the continent , one of the exhibition world ’ s braver endeavours has recently taken place once again . From its base now in the United Arab Emirates , Atex International Exhibitions has for many years focused on the Libyan market . For obvious reasons , that has been out of action for some time , but the market is coming back and , with the relaunch of Libya Build in Tripoli earlier this month , almost 200 exhibitors and 13,000 visitors were welcomed back to the Tripoli International Fair ground .
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