INTERNATIONAL - South Africans showcasing their products and services at the Mozambique international trade fair, FACIM, are pleased with the progress that they are registering in an effort to access the market in the neighbouring country.
The participation of the businesses in the trade fair was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). Business owners expressed how satisfied they were with the exposure their companies are receiving at the trade fair since it started on Monday.
They are filled with optimism when returning to South Africa on Sunday with a notable number of not only deals but trade leads and also orders that will see them exporting services and products to Mozambique in the near future.
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Kama Industries, Product Specialist, Bert Urban said his company's audible and visual signaling devices will be making their way to Mozambique soon, this after successfully negotiating a deal with an electrical wholesaler on the sidelines of the trade fair. "The company has offices in Maputo, Tete and Cabo Delgado provinces where our products will be distributed after we have signed a contract to appoint them as our distributing agency in Mozambique. This will give us an opportunity to access the mining and industrial markets here and enable us to export our products to various provinces," Urban said.
Urban's company is based in Johannesburg. Fred Footwear from Port Elizabeth, has one of the most popular exhibition stands in the South African Pavillion at FACIM.
The company's range of products includes designer formal and casual shoes, school shoes, leather sandals, and safety shoes. His products caught the attention of many people who visited the exhibition. The Managing Executive of Fred Footwear, Ronald Eboru said: "In addition to individual visitors who are interested in buying our products, I had a fruitful meeting with a family that develops and owns retail properties in Mozambique. We discussed the possibility of them distributing our products in the country, as well as us occupying some of the retail space in one of their shopping centres and selling the full range of our products from there."
The company is already exporting to Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Vivian Pillay from Durban-based Stainless Connection, was very ecstatic after getting the opportunity to introduce his products and services to five food-processing and construction companies.
Pillay said: "Representatives of all of these companies showed interest in our products and services, although most of them are looking for full packages for turnkey projects. We were impressed with the interest that they showed and we are confident that whenever they have decided to implement their plans we will be one of the companies that they will prioritise for procurement." Also sharing excitement on the fair is Heinrich Appies from the VoidCon Group, based in Gauteng.
Appies said he expects positive results from the four meetings that he had with companies and also individual business people. "We are confident that we will sign an agreement with one of the businesspeople who are interested in being a distributor of our products in Mozambique. There are also engineering and construction companies that have shown interest in our products and we hope something positive will come out of these interactions even if it is later when we are back in South Africa," said Appies.