Traders hope for better returns from OATF

THE Ongwediva Trade Fair ended on Saturday, with exhibitors expressing mixed feelings about the success of their stalls.

The Chairman of the Fair, Damian Egumbo, and Ongwediva Town Council spokesman Andreas Uutoni said the fair was well organised and went smoothly. But some exhibitors said they did very little business.Frieda Abiatar, who sold hand-woven baskets, told The Namibian that she did not sell anything.”I think I am going to make another plan next year, because this year, things didn’t go as I wanted them to go.I came to the Trade Fair to exhibit my products and also then to have buyers, but to my surprise, nobody was interested in homemade baskets.Not only mine, but also those of my colleagues.We didn’t have buyers as in the past,” she said.Rachel Kaiyamo, the owner of Rachel Creations in Windhoek, was satisfied with the fair, however.”I think the aim of trade fairs is not to come and sell our products, but mainly to show off our products for later selling at our places of business.We also came here to make friendships with partners from other regions and abroad and to create joint ventures, especially in manufacturing,” Kaiyamo said.She said it would be better to start the fair at the end of the month when more people have money to buy from the exhibitors.Visitors to the fair complained about high prices for food and refreshments.Traders said they had to charge high prices because of the cost of renting their stalls and obtaining temporary liquor licences.Other people said they wanted to exhibit their products at this year’s trade fair, but couldn’t because of a lack of exhibition space.Some exhibitors complained about crime at the fair, saying that a computer had been stolen from the MTC stall, a large sum of cash from the Limpopo Province exhibitors from South Africa, and various smaller items such as cellphones from other exhibits.Responding to these complaints, the Town Council’s Uutoni told The Namibian that a bigger hall offering more exhibition space would be built in time for next year’s fair.He said the dates for the fair were chosen to coincide with the school holidays.Regarding crime, Uutoni said the few crimes that had been reported, were solved.He said exhibitors themselves were to blame for not safeguarding their belongings.”Some items were stolen from the exhibitors because of their own negligence and I am calling upon the exhibitors in the future to police themselves and not to leave items such as money bags lying around,” he said.The Limpopo business group from South Africa was named as the best international exhibitor at the fair.But some exhibitors said they did very little business.Frieda Abiatar, who sold hand-woven baskets, told The Namibian that she did not sell anything.”I think I am going to make another plan next year, because this year, things didn’t go as I wanted them to go.I came to the Trade Fair to exhibit my products and also then to have buyers, but to my surprise, nobody was interested in homemade baskets.Not only mine, but also those of my colleagues.We didn’t have buyers as in the past,” she said.Rachel Kaiyamo, the owner of Rachel Creations in Windhoek, was satisfied with the fair, however.”I think the aim of trade fairs is not to come and sell our products, but mainly to show off our products for later selling at our places of business.We also came here to make friendships with partners from other regions and abroad and to create joint ventures, especially in manufacturing,” Kaiyamo said.She said it would be better to start the fair at the end of the month when more people have money to buy from the exhibitors.Visitors to the fair complained about high prices for food and refreshments.Traders said they had to charge high prices because of the cost of renting their stalls and obtaining temporary liquor licences.Other people said they wanted to exhibit their products at this year’s trade fair, but couldn’t because of a lack of exhibition space.Some exhibitors complained about crime at the fair, saying that a computer had been stolen from the MTC stall, a large sum of cash from the Limpopo Province exhibitors from South Africa, and various smaller items such as cellphones from other exhibits.Responding to these complaints, the Town Council’s Uutoni told The Namibian that a bigger hall offering more exhibition space would be built in time for next year’s fair.He said the dates for the fair were chosen to coincide with the school holidays.Regarding crime, Uutoni said the few crimes that had been reported, were solved.He said exhibitors themselves were to blame for not safeguarding their belongings.”Some items were stolen from the exhibitors because of their own negligence and I am calling upon the exhibitors in the future to police themselves and not to leave items such as money bags lying around,” he said.The Limpopo business group from South Africa was named as the best international exhibitor at the fair.