East African Business Week (Kampala)
Bosco Hitimana
19 July 2008
Kigali — The 11th annual Rwanda International Trade Fair (RITF2008) that brings together local and foreign exhibitors will kick off from August 28 to September 8 in Kigali.
The event is organised by Rwanda Private Sector together with the Ministry of trade and industry.
Exhibition and Events Organisers, a Kenyan based firm has been hired to manage the 12 day event expected to entice shoppers to Rwanda's capital Kigali.
"It aims at bringing together business people in order for them to interact, network and also for the Rwandese people to be able to come and see what the business community is doing," the event manager, Ms. Mary Wambua told East African Business Week.
She added that the event is a very good opportunity for the companies to launch new products and get new customers. Wambua said that registration started early May and as of last week, out of 500 stands available, 320 had been booked, majority being occupied by local companies. Last year, the fair attracted an average of 323 companies in which 227 were local, 96 international.
The event manager said they had sent out over 5, 000 invitations meanwhile, as of last week, foreign companies from Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Ghana and South Africa had confirmed their participation.
However, Wambua revealed that they were still negotiating with people from India, China, Dubai and Malaysia for them to participate. Registration has been put at Rwf450, 000($818) for local exhibitors and US$1,350 for foreign exhibitors on a nine square meter stand.
The fair will be held in two big tents capable of hosting 400 stands placed on a dust free ground, covered with grass contrary to the previous exhibitions.
Ephraim Karangwa, the Trade fairs and Promotion Manager at Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF), said that the importation of the two tents increased the total cost for the event from Rwf300m (close to $545,454) to Rwf400m (close to $727,272). The PSF is also working on a project to set up a permanent expo building likely to cost Euro60million.
The exhibitors will be grouped in six 'sectoral villages' ranging from ICTs, International pavilion, industrial, services, general trading and small and medium enterprises. The industrial pavilion has attracted many exhibitors, according to Wambua. The organisers have also secured spaces for motor vehicle dealers, fun fairs, restaurants and bars and one to one meetings.
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