The 18th Annual Rwanda International Trade Fair opened last week at the Gikondo Expo Grounds with 383 local and foreign companies taking part. As many as 270,000 people are expected to visit the two-week fair, and the exhibitors will be looking to make the most of the opportunity to showcase their products and make a profit. The annual event has since grown by leaps and bounds with the 2015 edition attracting exhibitors from far and wide. That the trade fair attracts participants from as far as India, Malaysia Pakistan and Singapore, not to mention perennial participants like United Arab Emirates, Egypt, East African Community partner states as well as other African countries like Botswana, Ghana and Nigeria, is a demonstration of the event’s ever-growing profile. While the true impact of the Rwanda International Trade Fair may not be known, it is clear that the platform has provided local entrepreneurs and businesses an opportunity to showcase their innovations and products besides profits from sales during and after the event. It is also believed that it has also allowed for new business ideas to hatch and blossom as participants share and learn from one another’s experience. Nonetheless, Rwandan entrepreneurs should look beyond the Rwanda International Trade Fair to give their innovations and products much needed exposure. The same way exhibitors have come from different parts of the world to partake in the ongoing expo, the Rwandan industry too should exploit the opportunities presented through similar mechanisms elsewhere. Indeed the recently missed opportunity by local entrepreneurs to showcase their products at an international exhibition that preceded the Sixth Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the Kenyan capital Nairobi should serve as a wake-up call. Local entrepreneurs need to seize every opportunity to raise awareness about their products, form strategic partnerships with their counterparts in other countries and regions, seek opportunities to expand their business, and learn new skills to develop and harness a business, among others. It is only then that they will take their business acumen to another level and not only survive but remain competitive in a globalizing world – thus taking their rightful place in national development through such ways as increasing the export base, inspiring new businesses, growing the taxi base and creating more job opportunities.
