The Africa Print Regional Expo in Port Elizabeth, held on 18 February at the Boardwalk Convention Centre, was a major success, with 389 visitors, a 29% increase from the last PE expo in 2013. This is a clear indication that the industry is optimistic and looking to invest in new technologies and opportunities. Visitors arrived from all parts of the Eastern Cape, including Grahamstown, East London, King William's Town, Adelaide, Somerset West, Cradock, Graaff Reinet and Jeffreys Bay.
There were many business opportunities for visitors to explore, such as: solutions for digital printing presses, binding equipment, wide format digital, digital packaging solutions, screen printing, digital textile printing, finishing equipment, ink, software, pad printing, paper and board, litho print solutions, encapsulating/laminating and digital label printing.
Africa Print sponsor, Xerox, signed a deal with X Spark for a Xerox C70. ‘Seeing the Xerox C70 in action at the Africa Print expo sealed the deal for us,’ said Sapho Maqhwazima, co-founder of X Spark, in an interview with Africa Print.
Kurt Carelse from Midcomp said, 'Midcomp made good quality contacts, and it was great to make face-to-face contact with cusomers and potential customers that we had arranged to meet at the expo. Despite not having equipment on our stand, we have some very good prospects.'
Chayce Strydom from Modico said, ‘Modico had a very good expo. The expos are good for making contact with new prospects and the trip to the regional expos gives me an opportunity to make contact with existing clients.’
Judges visited each stand at the expo and judged the stands according to criteria based on design and staff friendliness and professionalism. The Africa Print stand winners and runners up include:
Best Small Stand:
First: Regma/Epson
Runner Up: Micomp
Best Medium Stand:
First Tie: Riso Africa and Kyocera
Runner Up: Upward Spiral and Mimaki
Best Large Stand: Xerox
You can view the exhibitor catalogue on page five of the Africa Print Journal magazine: https://www.africaprint.com/magazine
Forthcoming Expo’s include:
DURBAN: 18-19 March 2015, Durban ICC.
BLOEMFONTEIN: 13 May 2015, Bloem Show Grounds, Violet Hall.
AFRICA PRINT JOHANNESBURG EXPO: 22-24 JULY 2015
Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
CAPE TOWN: 2-3 September 2015, Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Entrance to all the Regional Expos is FREE, pre-register online to speed up the process and you could win R1000 in cash.
