The fair, slated for February 9 to 13, has since 2011 provided the platform for Ghanaian handicraft exporters to promote their businesses and to also explore marketing opportunities globally.

The companies, TradeAID Integrated based in the Northern Region of Ghana, which provides an alternative trade facilitation for market access for basket producers in the region; Accra-based Accent Furniture and Unique Home Décor producing company, Tekura, Delata Ghana Limited, the company behind the famous traditional Bolga baskets and Fritete, a local handicraft export company, would participate in the four-day fair.

According to the organisers of the fair, Messe Frankfurt Limited, the fair provides a global market spectrum to industry trends and affords exhibitors and participants the opportunity to share future visions.

The Ambiente Fair, which is one of the oldest fairs in Europe, the organisers say, provides the biggest and most important business to business (B2B) market square for exhibitors.

Opportunities

The Marketing and Communications Officer at Messe Frankfurt, Ms Elena Mena, said the fair would provide unique marketing and sales opportunities for various companies across the entire European, Asian and African markets and was expected to attract over 6,000 exhibitors and more than 200,000 trade visitors who were expected to make new business contacts and conclude major transactions.

“Interest in the fair is increasing as the high number of buyers makes Ambiente attractive to even more exhibitors from around the world,” she stated.

The Ambiente platform, Ms Mena noted, had provided sustainable business relationships for many businesses across the globe by way of offering market expansion; and, thus, urged African participants to use the opportunity to profile themselves appropriately and to provide buyers with first-hand information on their products and companies.

The Vice-President of Ambiente Fair, Ms Nicolette Naumann, also told the Graphic Business that they were very happy to once again have African exhibitors participating in this year’s fair.

“Exhibitors from African countries often depend on support measures and financial aid in order to achieve their business goals in exporting successfully their products to markets all around the world. Unfortunately, these prerequisites are not always given by default,” Ms Naumann pointed out.

She added that the logistics for bringing specimen to the fair and later exporting products to other countries were peculiar challenges for many African companies.

“But a successful participation of African exhibitors very much depends, in our experience, on the continuing support by their national governments or export aid programmes in order to reach the world market and bring order home to their local communities,” she suggested.

Exhibitors

The Chief Executive Officer of Tekura Limited, Ms Audrey Forson, told the Graphic Business that the fair had in the past offered the company an opportunity to access the European market with its products.

“It brought more opportunities in learning and understanding the trends and designs that fit into the European market,” Ms Forson said.

However, she suggested that the European market had not been as beneficial as the American market due to the opportunities the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows duty-free imports to the United States, provided. “Thus, we are able to export larger quantities to that market,” he noted.