Despite the ongoing economic challenges and the coronavirus pandemic, Zimbabwe remains an attractive investment destination to both citizens and prospective foreign investors alike. Investment opportunities exist in a number of areas such as mining, manufacturing and various services among others. Another area which stands out is the business events industry which is teeming with opportunities.
Although Zimbabwe’s business events industry history dates back to 1897 when the first exhibition was held in Harare, many opportunities still abound and await exploitation as the sector is still growing. Many people think that given the current socio-economic challenges that the country is facing, there is no need to invest in the sector arguing that business events only prosper in economically prosperous times.
Yes, a sound economy is key to a business events industry but it should be noted that the problems will not last forever. The sun will shine again and those who position themselves now for that period stand better chances of success compared to those who will wait for the right circumstances.
For those who believe in the future of Zimbabwe’s business events industry, the opportunities are numerous. Here are some of them.
- Venues infrastructure
Despite the many business events – both local and international – which are held in Zimbabwe, Harare’s biggest conferencing venue remains the 4 500 seater Harare International Conference Centre which is part of the Rainbow Towers Hotel. This partly explains why many business conferences and meetings are hosted by the resort town of Victoria Falls. Even the resort town, which has become the business events capital of Zimbabwe, sometimes fails to cope. For example, the August 2013 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) meeting additional space had to be provided using tents.
In view of this, Harare needs a good business events venue with a capacity of 10 000 seats or more. With some of the city’s activities being now set to be moved to the nearby Mount Hampden, this presents an opportunity for investors to come up with a project to build a business events venue which can form part of the new city.
Even provincial show bodies which possess a lot of land in show grounds can also dedicate part of their land holdings into modern business event venues which can be hired out to various events organisers. The Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) and the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Company already have plans to build hotels and conference centres in Harare and Bulawayo respectively to boost the existing stock of events venues in the country. There are a lot more areas where business events venues can be built. For example, a hotel and conference centre could be put up in the Honde Valley in Manicaland Province to tap on the tourist attractions provided by the Mtarazi Falls and the nearby Far and Wide Skywalk as well as the picturesque views in the valley that include the mystique Mahwemasimike mountain.
- Staffing and training services
As the industry grows, there will be opportunities for human resources consultants who specialise in the training and placement of business events personnel. These include exhibition stand staff, event managers, event planners, professional conference organisers, greeters and many more.
Last year the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) introduced a degree programme in events management. Prior to this the only other local tertiary institution which offered training in events management was the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) which offered a diploma in the discipline. The coming on stream of the CUT programme is indicative of the fact that key stakeholders in the industry know of the opportunities that will open up in future.
- Event marketing services
Since the dollarisation of Zimbabwe’s economy in February the number of conferences, exhibitions and other business events spiked. This opened an opportunity for marketing services providers such as advertising agencies to specialise in the providing to organisers of such events. Such developments mean that public relations (PR) and ad agencies which take time to study the needs of various stakeholders in the events industry stand an opportunity to serve the sector.
Any design suite or ad agency can come up with an advert advising the market that company ABC will participate at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show but only those agencies which take their time to understand the industry’s in a nuanced way will benefit from the industry. They will be able to provide insightful, in-depth and meaningful marketing counsel to players in the industry because they will have invested in it. They can easily tear themselves apart from the common crowd of other agencies and position themselves as the go-to specialists in marketing various aspects of the local business industry.
Such ad agencies and PR outfits will be counted upon to assist new or struggling business events, organisers, suppliers and other stakeholders to build their brands on the market on the basis of their thorough knowledge of the local business events industry.
- Events insurance
Another key investment area which investors can seriously consider is insurance tailored for the unique needs of the business events sector. This includes insuring the manpower involved, goods being transported to various places as exhibition samples or exhibits at an exhibition whose venue may be gutted by fire or destroyed by a storm.
Again, as in the case of event marketing experts, insurers will need to invest in the industry in order to fully understand how it works in order for them to tailor-make insurance packages which fully address all the risk that all business events stakeholders face.
- Event security services
Apart from the foregoing services, the business events industry will require dedicated security services to secure event venues and assets such as exhibits and conference materials. Even conference delegates also need to be secured as well.
Currently commercial security services are mostly needed for overnight security but they are needed round the clock. For example a security detail may be needed to maintain order in an exhibition stand especially at consumer shows where visitors tend to be high and unwieldy. Some argue that placing guards at exhibition stands could put off some visitors and defeat the purpose of participating in an exhibition in the first place. Such security personnel can be trained as greeters who greet bypassing traffic of visitors and usher them into the stand. They can then assume security duties when need arises for example when a drunken visitor harasses stand staff.
- Event greening services
As the business event industry evolves new expectations and demands from stakeholders emerge. These include the need to ensure that events are sustainable as is the case currently. This has created new suppliers to the industry such as suppliers of conference environmentally-friendly gifts which are made by villagers from recycled material near a conference venue.
In South Africa and Kenya there are consultancies which assist event organisers to ensure that various aspects of their events are green. This includes ensuring that they deal with suppliers who have sustainability policies in place and follow them. In Zimbabwe, Helen Davidson two years ago started a business named Function Bins, which manages event waste by pacing litter bins at various points at venues during events. Her team members routinely empty the bins. The waste is then sorted to salvage recyclable materials which are separated before the non-recyclable material is carted off to municipal dumpsites.
As the local business events sector evolves, more innovators like Davidson will be required. More ideas like Function Bins will be required in various aspects of the business events industry supply chain as the world continues to push for sustainable events. These demands mean more investment opportunities for those with an eye for solving problems and profiting therefrom.
- Show stand designing and building
Most shows in Zimbabwe are held using shell scheme stands or permanent structures such as those leased by many large companies at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show and some provincial shows. Many companies which can afford to get a new stand built for each edition of major shows normally hire the services of the two main show designing and construction companies: Showmasters in Harare and ExpoDesigns of Bulawayo.
There is definitely room for more such service providers. As pointed out elsewhere in this article, the world is pushing for sustainable and environmentally friendly stands. This calls for innovation and responsiveness on the part of stand designers, builders and suppliers and those companies which are prepared meet this demand will benefit from this requirement.
- Event organisers
The majority of business events in Zimbabwe are organised by their prime drivers but there is more room for event owners to farm out the organising of their events to professional organisers. Some large companies are already doing this by hiring professional event organisers such as Notegate and some PR companies to organise their events.
There is still room for more professional event organisers. Investors in this area could distinguish themselves on the market by specialising in serving specific sectors of the economy such as mining, manufacturing or retail sector among others. Such investors could absorb students who are being trained by CUT and the UZ and make the business events industry one of the main sectors of the economy.
Even those who are currently handling non-business events such as birthday parties and weddings can upgrade themselves through education, secure investors and come up with professional business events management companies that can stake their own claims on the local business events industry landscape. They can employ people, contribute towards the national treasury and do their own bit in building Zimbabwe’s business events industry.
- Event accommodation
It has become normal for Bulawayo to run out of accommodation during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. The company behind the exhibition has a relationship with a company called Ecological Safaris which handles its accommodation needs but in spite of this arrangement accommodation still falls short. This is because Bulawayo has two main hotels and not everyone would want hotel accommodation during their stay in that city. This means that an opportunity exists for a business which organises accommodation for ZITF visitors and exhibitors outside of the Ecological Safaris-ZITF arrangement.
The same applies to Victoria Falls. Not every business event visitor to the town wishes to use hotel accommodation unless it is being paid for by their company. This creates an opportunity for event organisers to team up with accommodation companies to secure non-hotel accommodation for some of their conference delegates. If pursued, this may see some business event attendance fees going down as accommodation contributes significantly to the cost of attending business events.
- Team-building infrastructure development
In the past, a hotel with a conference room was all that was required for a successful conference but that is all in the past now. The modern-day conference delegate now demands more than that. Today’s typical conference includes team-building sessions, business opportunities and networking days and even a day to tour a local game park. Business events are no longer just all business as before. This means that just having a hotel and a conference facility does not suffice any more.
This is why the Rainbow Tourism Group, through its Heritage Expeditions Africa domestic tourism company, invested in a wide range of activities which include a zip line, abseiling, climbing, paintball shooting, beach volleyball, high beam and a crocodile bridge at its Rainbow Towers Hotel grounds in Harare. Such facilities can be part of a conference package saving delegates money as they normally travel to the Honde Valley or the Victoria Falls for such high adrenalin activities.
Where is the opportunity, one would ask? An investor could team up with existing popular business event venues to put up such facilities at popular conference venues such as the Leopard Rock Hotel in Vumba, in Nyanga and even put up a hotel with such facilities near the Chilojo Cliffs in Gonarezhou National Park.
Investment opportunities in the business events sector in Zimbabwe are many. It is a whole industry which is replete with opportunities awaiting both local and external or partnerships of both takers.