INLSA
Renier Schoeman with Deputy Minister of Tourism Tokozile Xasa and Speaker of the eThekwini Municipality Logie Naidoo opening one of the stands at the Durban Business Fair.
The bad weather on Saturday combined with locals mostly spending the long weekend on leisure activities put a damper on attendance at this year’s Durban Business Fair.
Some exhibitors complained about poor attendance on Saturday, while others did not let that deter them from using the platform to promote their wares and services or enjoy what was on offer at the Durban Exhibition Centre. Attendance figures, however, picked up on Sunday and Monday.
The 14th edition of the fair was the biggest in terms of exhibitor numbers, supporting events such as the small business conference and Durban Fashion Fair, and extended duration of the event. Final attendance figures are being tabulated and a report on the success of the fair will be done but overall the organisers were happy with the event.
The two-day business conference at the fair was characterised by informative presentations on topics such as access to finance, markets and the availability of business opportunities, both from the private sector and the government.
Deliberations during the conference showed that there were many business opportunities that were set to come out from new planned infrastructural and transport investments by government and the private sector.
Speaking at the conference director-general of Department of Transport, George Mahlalela, said 60 percent of government priority projects were directly linked to the transport sector and the majority of which involved projects in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We cannot ignore the importance of the transport sector in economic empowerment and in addressing issues of job creation, poverty eradication and creating employment. We need to maintain the momentum of the 2010 infrastructural development if we want to stand any chance of changing the lives of our people and in order to create an enabling environment for our small businesses to be sustainable,” added Mahlalela.
Deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala said she was confident that the small business sector benefited from the conference as there were vast business opportunities locally and abroad for them to capitalise on.
“The presence of delegates from places like Mozambique, Libreville and Bulawayo is a clear indication that our business sector should start thinking big and look into opportunities even in other countries,” she said.
“We are serious about developing our business people because our sister city partners are here and this shows that we don’t sign agreements only but we implement them, too,” Shabalala said.
