Promote 2014: Stand segmentation facilitates visits

If there is one thing that has made circulation and the visit of exhibition stands at the ongoing business show at the Yaounde Conference Centre, Promote 2014, then it the decision by organizers to group actors of similar sectors in particular areas. It suffices for any visitor who gets to the site for a particular stand to know where the sector is situated and accessing the stand will no longer be a problem.

“In fact, this is something laudable as an absence of this organization would have been catastrophic for us visitors given the vast nature of the Promote village and the number of people showcasing their business ingenuity,” Richard Tendong, visitor to the site told Cameroon Tribune yesterday, Tuesday December 10. Statistics show that there are about 1,200 exhibitors at Promote 2014 from as many as 31 countries within and without Africa.

Be they actors in the agro-industry, energy and water, public works, forestry and wood, information and communication technology, telecommunication, extractive industries and processing, bank and finance, handicrafts and other sectors, each has its compartment where all products are displayed.

This does not only help visitors to see a wide-range of offers in the different sectors present at Promote but also to make valued choices. This also allows for stakeholders to network, share experiences, ideas and seek ways of improving on their plight. “This is very beneficial to both visitors and exhibitors alike,” a visitor told CT.

Remarkable also about the segmentation is the decision to lodge respective government ministries in their sectors of operation. This allows for real public-private sectors concertation in view of improving on either regulatory or legislative mechanisms capable of boosting competitiveness for the benefit of both the country’s economy and livelihood of the actors.

Coupled with this move, the announcement that the show would hence hold every two years, is also being saluted by both businessmen and visitors. Businessmen say coming there every two years will spur them to continually improve on what they are doing, especially after seeing what others are doing, and preparing to meet the aspirations of visitors expressed as they move up and down the stands on the slopes of the Yaounde Conference Centre. Visitors say it pays to see what others are doing as often as possible