ZimTrade readies SMEs for ZITF

ZIMTRADE will, once again, facilitate the participation of six export ready SMEs at this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) to be held from 25-29 April 2017.

The SMEs, selected from the clothing and textiles, furniture, engineering as well as processed food sectors, are graduates of ZimTrade’s capacity building programme, the Marketing and Branding for International Competitiveness (MBIC).

ZimTrade’s participation theme will be “Building Linkages for export growth”.

“As the national trade development and promotion organisation, our mandate is to grow the country’s value added exports. There is, therefore, a need to foster sustainable business linkages which will lead to increased exports,” said Ms Sithembile Pilime, the ZimTrade Chief Executive Officer.

During the trade fair, ZimTrade will conduct demonstrations on how to access and utilise online market analysis tools such as the Trade Map. Export opportunities, which have been identified through market surveys conducted in the region will also be disseminated.

Last year, ZimTrade facilitated SMEs to participate in the trade fair and Meprin Founders & Engineers, who were one of the beneficiaries, commended the organisation for continuously capacitating SMEs.

“We thank ZimTrade for supporting us so that we realise our full potential. Participating under their banner offered our company great exposure as we had an opportunity to engage with numerous customers who attended the fair. We clinched deals and we are currently pursuing several leads. Our exhibition stand was of international standard and we were proud of our display,” said the Meprin Founders & Engineers Managing Director, Mr Prince Gobvu.