By Sharyn Macnamara
The SADC MTE combo and trilogy tradeshows are a confirmed favourite for exhibiting suppliers to the region.
Debswana exhibited at the MTE expo in Jwaneng in 2024, showcasing predictive analytics projects being rolled out at fixed and mobile plants at the Jwaneng Mine. ©Mining and Technical Exhibitions (MTE)
Over border Mining and Technical Exhibitions (MTE) tradeshows have been a firm favourite in the industry for a while now. March 2024 saw the travelling expo company host a highly successful annual trilogy showcase in Botswana, while July and August saw the company add a Zimbabwe combo tradeshow back into its calendar for the first time since 2015 and September will see the popular MTE annual trilogy tour hit Zambia.
The recipe for success in these specific show combinations lie in several major factors, says Andrew Macnamara, operations director at the company. “One, these three countries are seeing major movement in investments in mining; two, the governments in the countries are pushing mining hard as an investment case and are offering flexible policy therein; and three, the MTE combo and trilogy concept makes sense for MTE’s valued partners – the suppliers of innovation to the sector.”
The combo/trilogy concept
Running two or three shows in a week over border makes absolute sense, as it involves one trip once annually, to a destination eager to discuss the innovations that have emerged over the past year, explains Macnamara. The distances travelled only happen once a year, so accommodation, logistics and additional costs are budgeted for once annually and the ROI is high as the areas are hungry for new solutions. The exhibiting suppliers also get the benefit of economies of scale over two and three expos with the resultant reductions in pricing for their stand packages.
Over the past 30 years or more, MTE has made its mark in the travelling exhibition industry in SADC. The company’s customised high impact exhibitions are well-known across many industries – mining, power, cement, sugar, logistics (port and harbour), and paper and pulp industries – for bringing buyer and supplier together, creating worthwhile networking opportunities where challenges, solutions and opportunities for all parties in the value chain can be shared.
March: Botswana trilogy tour hit the mark
This year’s MTE ‘Botswana combo’ trilogy tour in the mining and power sectors, was no exception: In the week of 4–8 March this year the shows in Letlhakane, Palapye and Jwaneng yielded close to 800 visitors over the week, with an average of 68 solution provider companies exhibiting at each event over the three expo days.
July, August: Bold Zimbabwe combo expectations
At the time of writing, Gweru was MTE’s first stop in Zimbabwe on 30 July to target mines in the vicinity such as the Unki and Mimosa mines located on the Great Dyke, together with a number of smaller gold and chrome operations, while Selous was the company’s second stop. The second expo was in Ngezi at Mulota Hill Golf Course, near the Zimplats operations (87% owned by Implats).
September showstoppers: Zambia trilogy
MTE’s Zambian tour has grown to include three showstoppers in the thriving copper belt. The travelling exhibition company will host three consecutive expos within a week, starting with the Kalumbila Expo on 16 September, stopping off at Solwezi on 18 September and ending the tour on 20 September in Kitwe.
In 2023 the Kalumbila Expo saw 57 exhibitors engage with 295 visitors including an assistant GM and several mining managers, project engineers for the Sentinel Project, safety managers, and many senior employees and technical staff from Lumwana. Feedback from both suppliers and visitors to the MTE team was particularly positive, says Macnamara with some saying that this expo had proved to be “the best show yet” in the country characterised by a “new dawn”.
The 2023 Solwezi expo was a show with a difference – set up for the first time on the lush grass of the Royal Solwezi Hotel. MTE had invited key employees from the Kansanshi Mine – from mining, commercial and engineering management to supervisors from all disciplines within the mine. Automation and innovations to promote safety on moving parts within the operations were a recurring theme in discussions with 57 suppliers and the 213 key visitors.
The 2023 Kitwe expo ended MTE’s Zambia tour on a high note with 512 visitors and 61 exhibitors networking in the afternoon. Macnamara expands, “This is always the busiest expo of the week, and last year’s show saw representation from Mopani, KCM, Chibuluma, NFC Africa as well as Limestone Resources in Ndola with management across all disciplines present.”
He concludes “Herein lies the beauty of these over border shows – suppliers who exhibited across all three expos were best served having had the opportunity to liaise with over 1 000 key industry stakeholders, with just a week and a bit of time out of the office.”