Ambiente, a market place connecting businesses and buyers

Call it a market place that connects job creators, creative start-ups, buyers and investors and one may not be far from wrong.

The Ambiente Trade Fair which is held in Frankfurt, Germany is said to be the world's most important consumer goods trade fair that is connecting businesses in Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

From home decorative pieces to the latest inventions of hand made furniture, lifestyle and gifts items among others, the show has become the most attractive market place in the entire Europe attracting some 4,460 exhibitors from 92 countries across the globe for the 2019 edition which came off from February 8-12.

Some 130,081 trade visitors from 167 countries were also at the fair with Italy, China, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, United States of America, Switzerland, South Korea and Turkey being the top ten countries with high visitor rates to the fair.

Of the visitors, Ambiente officials say, some 49 per cent of visitors who attended the fair sought information on new trends in the home décor, dining and living innovations with 45 per cent also making discoveries on new products while 44 per cent were there to initiate new business contacts.

The Fair

A broad spectrum of products from kitchenware, personal gift items, fashion accessories among thousands of products were on display at the five-day event which served as a connection point for not only international buyers but wholesalers and retailers.

The fair is usually dominated by Chinese, Indian and European companies who led large delegation of exhibitors, business people looking for investment’s orders, entrepreneurs seeking new innovative products to retail among others.

Countries such as Napal, Afghanistan, Pakistan which have all recovering from the devastating consequences of war were also not left out as they made a huge impression at the fair showcasing decorative handicraft pieces at the fair which they believed was a connecting point where just one good order could be worth millions of dollars and could position their countries to create more skilled jobs that could transform the lives of hundreds of people in their home countries.

Africa

Africa’s representation at the fair which has been running over the last 700 years has over the last decade seen countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Mali, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana making some strong representations at the fair.

While some of the countries have become regular exhibitors at the fair, Ghana has since 2015 not been consistent at the fair, except for individual exhibitors who occasionally returns to the fair depending on funding from external sources such as the Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), a Netherlands government sponsored programme aimed to support skilled development of young people in developing countries.

The CBI programme has in the past supported many Ghanaian handicraft producers and exporters to participate at the fair leading to a boost in their business competitiveness.

However, following the expiration of the tenure of the programme in Ghana in 2018, with the exception of Delata Ghana Limited, exporters on handmade Bolga baskets who made it to the fair on his own sponsorship, no other exhibitor made it to the fair owing to the funding challenges.

Ms Matilda Payne (middle) and her partner at MH Couture and Xtreme Upcycle explaining a point to a client at their stand at the fair.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Delata Ghana, Rev Mawuli Akpenyo who relished some moments of Ghana’s participation at the fair, noted that handicraft producers in the past were able to enhance their production capacity since the fair gave them the opportunity to supply so much the European market many handicraft products from Ghana.

“Most of our local producers were able to resource their production workshops from funds raised from the export activities the Ambiente platform provided us in the past which also saw many hands being trained, however, the situation has significantly changed due to a lack of support from the government,” Rev Akpenyo stated.

Grooming Talents

Nevertheless, the organisers of the Ambiente, Messe Frankfurt Exhibitions GmBH under its talents development programme targeted at young entrepreneurs aimed to help them developed quality products and also connect to the wider market on international buyers sponsored a Ghanaian start-up which is into the recycling of waste items into useable home decorative pieces, jewelries among others, MH Couture and Xtreme Upcycle to participate in the 2019 edition of the fair.

According to the Vice President of Ambiente, Ms Nicolette Naumann, international exposure to investors and buyers were key to the creation of sustainable businesses by young people.

The 2019 which welcomed Ms Matilda Payne of MH Couture and Xtreme Upsycle from Ghana and Awa Meite from Mali who is into the production of traditional fabric from ancient wood husks, by offering them free exhibition space as well as facilitating their air travel to the fair Ms Naumann believed was Ambiente’s contribution to help African talents connect their creativity to the rest of the world using the Ambiente platform.

With the global handicraft export sector expected to exceed USD$1 billion in 2019 of the $984.8 billion by 2023 through products and innovations, Ms Naumann remained optimistic that Ghana through the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) which was their key partner within the West African market would re-strategise its efforts to harness the benefits associated with the sector.

Writer’s email: delarussel@gmail.com