News

THE Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) is seeking to bolster buyer participation in Expo Jamaica 2016, which opens today and runs until Sunday.

Through its Buyers’ Programme, the agency is inviting potential buyers to visit the show and have meaningful business-to-business discussions with local producers and service providers.

Already, over 470 buyers have registered for the event, with 265 of these being locals. The international buyers are expected from the United States of America, the Caribbean, Europe, Canada, Asia and Africa.

Berletta Henlon Forrester, manager for market development at JAMPRO, told a recent JIS Think Tank that the Buyers’ Programme creates an avenue for exhibitors to increase linkages and forge business and trade relations with local and international buyers.

“The Buyers’ Programme, which is the trade element of Expo Jamaica, is about exposing Jamaica’s products and services to buyers, that is, distributors, importers, retailers, wholesalers and these are people from Jamaica, and all over the world,” Henlon Forrester pointed out.

She noted that the programme not only targets the traditional buyers but also procurement officers in various institutions such as Government ministries, departments and agencies; hospitals; schools and the security forces.

The market development manager is inviting buyers to visit Expo Jamaica “to see what Jamaica has on show.”

“You will find that many of the products that you are probably importing from overseas markets are made right here in Jamaica and are of very good quality,” she pointed out.

Expo Jamaica will be held at two venues – the National Arena and the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston.

To be highlighted at the event are: art and craft, beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), business and other services, chemicals, construction, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, food and agro/fresh produce/processed foods, furniture and bedding, information and communications technology (ICT), minerals and metals, printing, packaging and labelling, textile and apparel.

The first two days of the Expo will be designated for the buyers, giving them the opportunity to interact with the exhibitors in a quiet environment that is conducive to business. All buyers must be registered in order to participate in the Expo.

“We will organise your meetings for you and you are free to roam the floors, interact with the exhibitors, sit and meet with them; examine the products, sample them. We have designated meeting spaces and, ultimately, what we want is for our buyers and exhibitors to transact business,” Henlon Forrester explained.

She said follow-up after the event is important in order to ensure that those early discussions between buyers and exhibitors result in actual business transactions.

More than 500 buyers were registered for the last event held in 2014, with 230 exhibitors and 15,000 consumers.

There were approximately 100 trade leads coming out of Expo Jamaica 2014, with over 65 per cent converted to real-world business transactions.

Manager for Market Development at JAMPRO, Berletta Henlon Forrester, provides details about JAMPRO’s Buyers’ Programme at a recent JIS Think Tank.

Contributed by: Jamaica Observer

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/JAMPRO-pushing-buyer-participation-at-Expo-Ja-2016_57497

Source: Jamaica Observer

Published Date: April 14th, 2016