International trade show organizer Messe Frankfurt to enter Sri Lanka to help make it a regional hub in South Asia
One of the largest trade show organizers in the world, Messe Frankfurt, has reportedly announced that it will open a sales office in Colombo this December.
The company expects to make Sri Lanka a regional hub in South Asia given its strong growth potential.
According to reports, bullish trade fair giant has also announced plans to bring down its Board Member Stephan Kurzawski for a two-day visit to Sri Lanka next month to illustrate Colombo’s great connectivity and its growing economic potential.
“We are always looking for new markets and new ventures. Messe Frankfurt was interested in having a local agent in Sri Lanka. By the end of the year we will have a local outbound sales office in Colombo. We have already set up the office and started rearranging. We are hiring a few foreign and local employees,” Messe Frankfurt Sri Lanka’s Omer Salalhuddin has reportedly told journalists in Colombo.
With the visit of its Board Member Kurzawski next month, Salalhuddin has expressed confidence in Colombo’s potential to become a regional hub.
“After a year’s effort of convincing we are getting down the board member of Messe to visit Sri Lanka. During his two-day visit we hope to show him Colombo’s infrastructure and how well it is connected to the growing markets. Maybe in the future we can also convince them to make Sri Lanka a regional hub,” he has been quoted as saying in the local media.
According to Salalhuddin, they were also planning to hold a trend seminar in Colombo, which would provide a great platform for local companies to understand from Messe Frankfurt trend designers what European brands were looking for.
In terms of the future plans Salalhuddin has told the local media that they were keen on educating SME manufacturers engaged in handicraft and apparel on what European markets were expecting from their products and to bring down rational designers from various countries on the latest trends to ensure that this segment was well aware of up-to-date developments in the marketplace.
“I’m impressed by the quality of products and the professionalism of Sri Lankan companies to present properly. Messe Frankfurt managed to organise a Sri Lankan fashion show free of cost at Textworld/Apparel Sourcing in Paris. This gave the opportunity for the designers and trendsetters to showcase their talent and find new markets,” he has noted.
With 800 years of experience, Messe Frankfurt is today one of the global leaders in the trade fair industry. It’s portfolio of over 150 fairs generated sales of about € 661 million and more than € 271 million in sales was generated outside Germany.
OSL take:
The confidence expressed by a global giant like Messe Frankfurt is an encouraging sign for foreign businesses/investors to engage in business opportunities in Sri Lanka. Messe Frankfurt has noted its commitment to make Sri Lanka a regional hub in South Asia due to the country’s growing potential, which also indicates an expansion in investment opportunities in the country as well.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/13082018/Z_1 |