India and South Africa join up for SAITEX

The exhibition, together with its co-located sister event, Africa's Big Seven will take place 21-23 June 2015 at Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand.

"We chose to partner with India because it's very similar to South Africa in many ways," says Ndaba Ntsele, the President of the BBC. "Both nations need to focus on boosting SMMEs to grow the economy, as SMMEs are the lifeblood of South Africa's economic growth. Yet 80% of them do not survive beyond their first year in business. That is the reason we have decided to support the small business sector in South Africa and help it grow far beyond the first year of business."

By providing small business owners with the support they need, such as education and skills, and access to mentors and markets, they stand a greater chance of effectively following through to complete the business cycle of production and delivery, repeatedly.

India, well known for its manufacturing and technical capabilities in the auto component sector, machine tools industry, leather and leather goods, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, fruit and food processing and textiles. These are the industries where Indian companies - especially SMMEs - have out-performed many other countries and made their presence felt in the global marketplace.

"South Africans can learn much from India's small business programme - it has undergone massive development over the years, and delivered significant improvements in the growth of the sector. About 44 million Indian SMMEs provide employment to over 80 million people in the country; they contribute 45% of India's manufacturing output and over 40% of the country's aggregate exports," concludes Ntsele.

"We have worked very successfully with India for many years; the National Small Industries Corporation of India regularly brings Indian SMMEs to SAITEX, and India was also a partner nation in 2012. This MoU with the Black Business Council cements our fruitful relationship even further," adds John Thomson of Exhibition Management Services, the organisers of SAITEX.

For more information, go to www.exhibitionsafrica.com