‘We are connecting local firms with foreign businesses at Lagos trade fair’

Gabriel Idahosa is the vice president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). Idahosa is also the chairman of Trade Promotions Board of the chamber, which is in charge of the on-going Lagos International Trade Fair. In this interview with ODINAKA ANUDU, he explains why the fair is important for manufacturers, exporters, foreign investors and the Nigerian economy.

You have often spoken about ‘Big Changes’ for this year’s Lagos International Trade Fair. Tell us about these big changes?

They are big changes because anyone who has been visiting this fair in the last 31 years when we started will notice clear differences. That is why we call them big changes. The first big change is the booking experience. In the past 31 years, you had to come to our office or you get a canvasser to come to the office and do the booking. But this year, you book online, pay online, get your receipt online and have your space and ticket online. You have a ticket like a street address. You can go to your space without human interface, unlike before when you had to come to start looking for people to guide you.

The second big change is that no exhibitor is allowed to bring any loud speaker or do any construction or dancing on the fair ground. In place of that, we have a coordinated, harmonised information system. That is Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF) Radio, which gives information, entertainment and education to exhibitors and visitors. Our media partners use LITF Radio to announce their presence. They use it to highlight their products and grant interviews.

Again, every year, we used to have a theme. We have looked at this and decided that this enterprise should have a brand promise that is enduring, so that every stakeholder in the trade fair can interrogate it. We decided to adopt, ‘Connecting Businesses, Creating Value’. That is the brand promise on which the trade fair in future years will be built on. We are connecting local businesses with foreign businesses in the city of Lagos. In previous years, some exhibitors, after the trade fair, decided to set up businesses, either here in Lagos or in other parts of Nigeria or West Africa, using Lagos as their head office. We have seen that actually, there is an in-built brand promise in the trade fair which we have not brought to the fore. All our activities are around this brand promise now.

The other change that is not visible is security related. We have several layers of security—the ones that are visible such as the police, Army, LATSMA and other ones that we can’t talk about. We want to ensure that the entire 10-day event is incident-free.

Online booking has been very successful. We have had 100 percent success. We closed the online booking on 2nd October, but right now, we are taking a lot of offline booking. People who could not book online are coming now and we have to accommodate them. Eighty to 90 percent of our exhibitors have been able to walk in and have their bookings successfully. A lot of our media partners are already using the platform to expand their business.

How many exhibitors do you have now?

We have crossed the 2,000 mark and we are looking at between 2,000 and 2,500 exhibitors. We are looking at over 20 countries from all the continents by the time we sign off.

Each year, LCCI keeps building tents for the trade fair. Don’t they cost you a lot?

It costs a lot of money. We are forced to do that because we had to move from our permanent site at Badagry Expressway. We are operating from here temporarily. There are two possibilities. One is moving back to our original permanent site. We are in discussion with the government, and they are positive, though not yet concluded. Another option is to have a new facility within the chamber and Lagos State government is helping.

How much have you invested in this trade fair so far?

A lot of these investments are proprietary, in the sense that we are unable to have this information in the public domain because there are several stakeholders involved. What we have done this year is to ensure we are able to break even. Our surplus used to be much better at the permanent site.

Compare this year with last year in terms of number of exhibitors and revenue?

As far back as mid-October, we had exceeded last year in terms of number of exhibitors and revenue. That was one clear positive effect of online booking, because online booking involves some discounts for early booking. Some exhibitors booked earlier than they used to do. So, that boosted our revenue and ensured we were able to make some savings. On the economic side of the trade fair, it is looking quite good.

Let us look at the impact of the trade fair.

From the ground level of economic impact, anything between 3,000 and 5,000 people are hired. Some started working three months ago.  Some will continue to work throughout this fair and even after. These temporary jobs often lead to permanent jobs, either at our office or from our exhibitors. So, at the very base level of job creation, every year, the trade fair creates a lot of jobs. If you are looking at the tourism  impact, people are coming from 22 countries. In fact, there are 200 companies coming from one country. You are talking about a large number of people who will spend money in hotels, who will stay beyond the trade fair, create more value in the economy for hoteliers, for food sellers and for the economy. Beyond that, exhibitors appoint distributors or wholesalers to represent them here in Nigeria or appoint exporters to supply them with raw materials. So, you find that a lot of exhibitors come with a lot of objectives. Some are here to sell their projects; some are here to appoint their representatives or get more suppliers of raw materials such as cashew, sesame seeds and fruits. Every year, we see lots of partnerships being done. Last year, we had Japan signing some MoUs with various institutions. If we track the years, we could get a lot of exhibitors who decided to build factories.