NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 16 – Over 300 exhibitors have confirmed participation for this year’s Nairobi International Trade Fair popularly known as ‘Nairobi Show.’
This is a significant increase from last year’s reported number of 152 exhibitors. The event is slated for September 28 to October 4.
The Trade Fair’s Chairman John Nthuku explained on Wednesday that they had attracted 250 local and 60 foreign exhibitors drawn from China, Korea, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria, USA, Germany, Britain, Iran, Turkey, Tanzania, Uganda, and Italy among others.
“The show offers exhibitors seven days of maximum exposure for their goods and services,” he said.
This year’s theme is “Driving Agribusiness in Attaining Food Sufficiency and Vision 2030,” which fits well with Kenya’s current predicament of food shortage owing to failed rains.
He said preparations for this year’s edition of the Nairobi international trade fair were well on course.
Notable new comers to this year’s event include the Central Bank of Kenya, the Communication Commission of Kenya and Nyayo Tea Zones authority.
Others include Uchumi Supermarket, East African Dairy Development and Technology Program Trust.
Mr Nthuku urged the business community to use the event to network with the aim of boosting their businesses, while at the same time developing products that will help boost food production in the country.
“It is an open secret that many exhibitors make transactions worth millions of shillings and we urge more participants to register.”
With the current power rationing he appealed to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company ( KPLC) to ensure there would be no interruptions during the seven day event.
In terms of infrastructure, Mr Nthuku revealed that all roads leading to Jamhuri Park had been re-carpeted with the assistance from the Kenya roads board.
A borehole has also been sunk in the park to complement the existing water dam. Over 50,000 people are expected to attend the show compared to the 400,000 who attended last year.
Mr Nthuku dispelled any fears that the annual show was losing its favour, saying attendance of the show, like everything else, is affected by the economy but says he expects numbers to go up this year.
He added a lot had been terms of entertainment to attract more youthful goers, to ensure the future sustainability of the show in the future.
“In most of the committees we have the very youthful people, so they can tell us what they need so we can cater for this very important group.
