The FESPA Africa 2017 co-located with Sign Africa and Africa Print held at Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg South Africa from 13th to 15th September 2017 was a significant success with 5839 unique visitors from South Africa and international countries, exceeding the 5592 unique attendees of the 2016 event.
Covering 13,000 Square Meter and 3 Halls with the objective of attracting quality visitors, FESPA Africa provided an ideal platform for visitors to investigate available business ventures, innovative products, technology, applications and education programmes for the signage and display industries in the sub-Saharan region.
Visitors from 20 African countries were in attendance with Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe making the Top 10 Countries outside South Africa with visitors.
Visitors at the 3-Day event took part in a range of educational features, including Technical Screen Print and Textile Talks, T-shirt and bag printing workshops, Corel Workshops, the Speed Wrap Challenge and business opportunities in print, signage and LED lighting, which were held on various exhibitors’ stands.
According to Exhibitors at the event, FESPA Africa 2017 was a success beyond their expectation. ‘This was an awesome show – the general interest in our products and services shows a definite upturn in the market compared to last year. We interacted with visitors from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria and a few others. Our lead capture doubled this year and we did a fair amount of business both on the booth and during the days following the show. Buyers were very optimistic. Many of our deals were on the back of big contracts, which makes the purchase of a machine a no-brainer. Customers are starting to think outside the box and about where they can add value for their clients.’ Confessed Sean Greer of Midcomp.
Matthew Glanvill, Maritime Marketing: ‘The show was amazing! It was our first time exhibiting and we were surprised at how busy it was. We had a great experience and we’ll definitely be back next year.’
Ruan Geustyn, Modico: ‘It was an excellent show – we sold over 10 models at the event.’
Dirk Pieper, Colorscreen: ‘The show was very good. We sold equipment off the stand and have a lot of leads from Africa as well.’
Dov Meyers, Chemosol: ‘We had a good response to our offerings, which included our transfer presses, sublimation solutions and new fibre laser. There was a good customer turnout, indicating an upturn in the industry.’
Gavin Petersen, Clear Solutions: ‘The quality of visitors was good, with more people looking to buy than browse and a higher turnout than last year. We made a number of sales and had interest from visitors from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.’
Vanessa Ngwana, Falcon: ‘Our award-winning stand was extremely busy the entire expo and our expectations for the event were exceeded. We’ve had visitors from Africa who are interested in partnering with us.’
Kevin Engelbrecht, Inkjet Media Supplies: ‘This was the best show we’ve ever had.’
Steve Harcourt-Wood, Rexx Screen and Digital Supplies: ‘2017 was our most successful show to date, with us selling 90% of all of our displayed equipment off the show booth, and we have been receiving further orders daily since.’
FESPA Africa co-located with Sign Africa and Africa Print will return for the fourth year at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa from 12th to 14th September 2018 with promises of a bigger show to this year.
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