The South African entrepreneurs representing the 26 companies that will participate in this week’s SIAL Paris International Food Goods Exhibition in France are excited to market their products to Europe.
The group will travel for France on Wednesday with the expectation that the 15-19 October 2022 SIAL Paris trade exhibition, where they will exhibit their products, would open doors for the export of their goods to France and the rest of Europe.
The South African businesses will be among the more than 7,000 exhibitors from across the globe who will make every effort to grab the attention of buyers, distributors, agents, and exporters who attend the biannual trade exhibition in quest of unique and appetising products.
The participation of South African companies was made possible by the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition’s (the dtic) Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) scheme, which aims to develop export markets for South African products and services and attract new foreign direct investments into the country.
The government has established a South African National Pavilion where South African firms will exhibit their goods and services.
This is part of the dtic’s efforts to encourage exports of value-added South African products and services via strategic export promotion mechanisms in order to enhance market share in chosen high-growth countries and maintain market share in existing markets.
In accordance with the Integrated National Export Strategy, which is South Africa’s framework for increasing exports and industrialisation to stimulate economic development, assistance is offered to enterprises seeking export markets for their goods worldwide.
The objective of the plan is to expand South Africa’s ability to export varied, value-added products and services to diverse global markets.
It is anticipated that the presence of South African firms at SIAL Paris would help to the expansion of South Africa’s exports to France, which have climbed from around R8.7 billion in 2020 to R11.6 billion in 2021.
Wendy Mpendulo, CEO of Miante Manufacturing, is thrilled that SIAL Paris will offer her with the chance to expand the international market of her Pretoria-based company, which manufactures nutritious, on-the-go snacks.
“We are currently exporting our products to eSwatini. We are travelling to France with the hope of finding a distributor, agent or big companies such as retail or hotel chains that will be interested in importing our products to France and other countries in Europe and beyond.
“We are optimistic that we will succeed as we are already doing some social media marketing as part of creating awareness about our company and products targeting the buyers that will be attending the exhibition,” said Mpendulo.
SIAL Paris will also provide the CEO of Energy Supplements, Serita Gericke, with the first opportunity to showcase her products, which include collagen water, on an international platform.
“We are convinced that our collagen water, which is becoming popular due to its scientifically-proven health benefits, will attract the attention of distributors and importers during the exhibition in France. We are targeting Europe as our potential market, particularly France and the United Kingdom. We have already received some enquiries that we are hoping to follow up on during the exhibition,” said Gericke.
SIAL Paris will be the first international exhibition experience for Thabisile Danisa who is the Managing Director of Incasa Foods, a Durban-based condiments and sauces producing company.
“The trip to France could not have come at a more opportune time as we are implementing our strategy of growing our business. We are hoping we will be able to secure clients during or after the exhibition so that we can start exporting our products to Europe,” said Danisa.
The Managing Director of House of Natural Butter, Debra Ncube, whose company is based in Cape Town, said she is looking forward to a successful trip to France where she has already set up meetings with three distributors to market her products, which comprise peanut, macadamia and almond butter.
“Our main objective for travelling to France is to strike deals during or after the exhibition that will enable us to penetrate the European market. We are confident that our high-value agro-processing products will attract the attention of the distributors, particularly the macadamia butter,” Ncube said.