The Durban Business Fair gives emerging business new platform
The annual Durban Business Fair has become known as one of the prime business events, not only in KwaZulu-Natal but in South Africa as a whole. Spearheaded by the eThekwini Municipality’s Business Support Unit, and headed up by Phillip Sithole, this year’s event promises to be the biggest yet and is set to see an increased involvement in the fair by big business.
“For this year’s event, we have recognised that beyond just developing a platform for small business and giving them a chance to showcase themselves, we are also including bigger businesses,” said Sithole. “We have done this in order to ensure that people at different operational levels are able to share knowledge and network as well as create partnerships.”
Previously known as the SMME Fair, the Durban Business Fair is now in its second year under the new name and branding, and for the first time will be running for a full week. Sithole highlighted that the new name and changes came as a result of wanting to reach out to more businesses, NGOs and service providers of all kinds.
“We found that after ten years of the event being held in the city there had not been a proper evaluation of how to transform the event going forward,” said Sithole.
“We found that a lot of people did not know the event was open to more than just SMMEs. Through this new brand we’re open to the wider business community … and this has been well received.”
Away from the exhibiting platform and networking sessions, the fair this year will also host an additional initiative that will help ensure that business owners get the most out of their time at the fair.
The Business Conference is a series of plenary sessions, presentations and talks where emerging business owners will get to engage with business leaders on various industry issues.
According to Sithole, this conference is part and parcel of ensuring that people attending get to identify new opportunities and are also made aware of government policies that affect or are directly related to business and industry.
“Here we’ll have a lot of government bodies and the private sector sharing information with their peers,” said Sithole. “We feel that this is a crucial component in arming business people in the city with proper information so that their businesses can thrive in the future.”
Topics will include opportunities within the maritime sector, Transnet, property development and road and rail infrastructure development.
The Durban Business Fair will take place from September 18-24. On September 18-19 the Business Conference will take place at Durban ICC, and from September 21-24 the exhibition will take place at the Durban Exhibition Centre, with September 24 being a bonus day. A gala dinner for invited guests only will he held on September 20.