Participants including exhibitors and consumers have described the just concluded annual marketplace held in Lagos as successful.
Speaking at the event, Head, Planning committee of the exhibition, Mrs Moji Awokoya noted that the decision of the church to establish the concept is in line with desire of the overseer to see to the empowerment of its members. While declaring the fair open, The initiator of the event,Pastor Taiwo Odukoya explained that the annual marketplace was borne out of the need to support government in its own little way as a church by growing enterprise and promoting business through such intiative..
Odukoya who spoke on the essence of fair which had been on for a while pointed out that this year edition had recorded remarkable progress when placed side by side with previous editions
She said” As you can see, it is quite successful. All the stalls have been taken. A lot of people we would have to return money to a lot of people because of space. We are hoping that next year that it will even be much bigger and there will be a lot more publicity.
We still have space on the other side of this compound. Next year, we don’t have plans of moving it next year.But it will be much bigger next year”.
Commenting on what is responsible for the attraction and its impact on small business,Awokoya stated that consumers within the environment appreciated the gesture and as such responded in large numbers to partake in the fair.
She said” Patronage is one of the things. It attracts the people within the community. In another few minutes, you are going to see perole come in.At least we expect that it is a two day fair.Yesterday, we have about two thousand. Today,we expect to have at least between 3,000 and 3500 people
“It creates awareness. People go to their stall to make purchasing decision having realized that such businesses exist. When people go to their stall and they realize that, they eventually buy the stuff”.
Awokoya had stated during an interaction on the sideline reaffirming that the event was not about fairt but an opportunity to give basck to the community
He said’ I cannot really get the figures because the fair is still ongoing. At the end of the day, we are going to compile what they say and know exactly what is worth to each participant and the profitability is for them. It is not about making profit. Asked if there are plans to move the fair from its present location,Awokoya stated that it was not clear if the church would desribe thinking of expanding further down.
She said”What we used now is just three quarters of the space.Next year, we will be able to accommodate more people. Like I said earlier, it is going to be much bigger and better.
Also speaking, head of Media,Planning CVommitte for the program, Mrs.Nkechi Balogun who was optimistic that the fair would soon be reminded as one of the events that has shaped he course of business particularly in those environment.
She said”Actually, the vision is to make it a Pan African because we thought there is need to help the Ilupeju community and extend it further to our larger community. If you look around Ilupeju, there are so many businesses around. Aside that, we have budding entrepreneurs that are looking for outlets and a way to connect to business partners.And we felt that the only way to do that is to stand in as big brother and bring all thse people together so that it will be easy for them.If you look out there,It is either they are asking them for ome conditions and requirements that theya re not able to meetor in other trade fairs where they cannnot afford the stalls. So, the church took it upon itself tofund because the fair is highly subsidized. I can tell you that most of these shops are not going for N12,500. I am sure you cannot get that in any trade fair. The kind of people that we also bring in. That is the vision of the church to make sure that this
grows especially at this time when business are lacking integrity. We also want to be able to showcase people that have integrity, people that you can vouch for, people that you can do business with”.
Buttressing further on the level of training and orientation that have been provided to enhance the smooth sail of the exhibition,Awokoya commended participants as well as the members for their show of support
She said” We had a one day training. It is not just enough having a fair, you must have allow people to live the brand. In order to make sure that what we say is what we are trying to do.We created a forum where we train all the exhibitors free of charge. We told them what we expected of them about customer relations, integrity. We also package them in a way they know how they talk to customers. They also know what to expect from customers, they know how to package themselves so that the would-be investors would be interested which we did two days before the trade fair.
Confronted with the question of whether some products are prohibited from exhibiting their good, Awokoya empatically stated that there was nothing of such.
She said”There is none. As long as it is not a product that is against contravenes NDLEA prescription,it is not a banned product as long as it is a product within the law because we are a church.We must ne seen to be operating within the ambience of what is acceptable in our country.
She sai”No. It is not restrictive .We have Indians here who are Hindus. Even the brewery companies, you are aware that they sell other products apart from beer. They don’t have to sell beer. Like in any business, there is what we call compliance. You must be politically correct. The exhibitors know that we are a church and need not be told. They have other products the church will be interested in. The door is open. This is not the first time Business Christian fellowship of Fountain Life church will be organizing a trade fair. We started having this every quarter. So, we used to have them fourth time a year. But this time, we decided to expand it and try it out just for once. We are actually looking forward to having twice a year. The second one might just be bigger. As we go on, we are going to be improving. We might just focus strictly on the annual marketplace and the other one might be family funfair.
Miss Charity Babatunde, who is the chairperson of this year annual trade fair commende the staff including students for their support in making the event a reality.
She said”It has been quite interesting and challenging. One of the things that has helped is my background in event management. But again,I have a fantastic team that I have worked with in ensuring that this event becomes a success. It has been challenging but it has been good. Since April, we have been planning actively to make sure we deliver. This is the first time that we will run it for two days”.
Speaking on the innovation and the need to showcase products that meet consumer needs, charity noted that the fair has provided a veritable platform for every business within the environ to take advantage of the opportunity to showcase new products emphasizing it was one business that is open to all.
She said” First and foremost, this year edition is a step up for from last year. Last year was fantastic but it went for one day. This year we have gone for two days. We have also include some things to make it interesting. Very soon, we will be starting a talent show where we are trying to showcase people in the church who have talent. It is going to be similar to Nigeria Idol where we will be rewarding the winner with a grand prize. We have also introduced a raffle draw that is of the highest standard. Next year, we will be acting based on the feedbacks that we get from exhibitors. We will see what we can introduce that will make it more profitable for them and showcase their business.
