25 September 2007: South Africa will be sending an entire delegation of the country’s top businesses to London to showcase the very best this country has to offer in terms of business, trade and investment opportunities. The 5000 square metre exhibition is titled “Southern Africa’s Big Business Expo in London” and is supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), who will host their own impressive 750 square metre exhibition stand in the centre of the hall.
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup ahead, The Big Business Expo will market South Africa at a critical time, exposing potential visitors to the possibilities that exist in order to stimulate an influx of investors both in the private and public sectors. Industries taking pride of place at the event include IT, Business Process Outsourcing, Tourism, Property, Agriprocessing, Inventions, Patents and Venture Capital as well as a World Cup Pavilion to showcase progress, development and the multitude of opportunities that will soon unfold.

The event is the brainchild of Dick Fletcher of Topco Media (Pty) Ltd. He explains, “Both Tourism and 2010 have truly positioned South Africa on the global map. We continue to grow from strength to strength as an economy, paving the way for big and small companies to do Big Business in foreign markets. All they need is the platform. They need to be at the right place, at the right time, with all the support they require to clinch a deal. That’s what we’ve put together.”

The event will include two simultaneous seminars to visitors, rotating throughout each day, one which exposes the positive socio-economic state of the country and the developments underway, and the other specifically devoted to actual opportunities on offer. In this way, the Expo will position South Africa as a viable and secure business destination, while also presenting the opportunities to a captive audience of moneyed investors.

So focused is the event, that delegates will be able to “Book a Boardroom” and host potential investors to an on site board meeting in order to take the first steps towards opening up a dialogue, and reaching their objective of harnessing new business opportunities.

It is with this gap in the market that Topco Media has embarked on a project to host this first of its kind exhibition in London. Marketing efforts have already attracted interest from SADC countries, keen to travel alongside South Africa’s contingent to the UK. TopCo Media’s vision is to move these collaborative business opportunities into other continents at a later stage.

‘Southern Africa’s Big Business Expo’ takes place at Excel in London from 30 March to 2 April 2008.

For further information on exhibiting at this prestigious event please contact the Topco Media offices in Cape Town on 021 441 2500 or speak directly to Sue Gannon, Exhibition Manager, on 082 891 9918.