In June FESPA London announced that FESPA is partnering with Practical Publishing, the organisers of Sign Africa and Africa Print, in expanding its global event portfolio into another key future print market. The first FESPA Africa event will take place from 2nd to the 4th of July 2014 at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.
FESPA Africa is a joint venture of FESPA and South African event organiser Practical Publishing, whose Sign Africa and Visual Communications Africa shows will now come together under the FESPA Africa event, to cover all aspects of signage, wide format digital printing, garment decoration and screen printing.
The FESPA Africa event will be co-located with Practical Publishing’s established Africa Print exhibition, which is targeted towards commercial printers, with a significant cross-over between the commercial and wide format print audiences. The combined events will cover 13500 sqm with an estimated 150+ exhibitors, and will set out to attract 6000+ visitors from sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.
FESPA Managing Director Neil Felton comments, ‘With the launch of FESPA Africa, we’re adding another piece to FESPA’s global event jigsaw. Africa is a vital and exciting growth region, and in Practical Publishing, we have an experienced partner to help us establish the FESPA brand here with the right local insights and contacts. By combining these two established events, we’ll aim to bring together the whole wide format print supply chain – the printers themselves and the specifiers of visual communications – behind the FESPA Africa brand.’
He continues, ‘FESPA’s strategy towards emerging global markets is always to work with a supportive partner who can blend FESPA’s brand recognition, organisational strengths and world-class content programmes with local knowledge to deliver something which addresses the unique challenges and opportunities facing that particular region’s printers. It’s an approach which has served us well in South-East Asia, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey and China, and we’re confident that it’s the right way to engage African printers with FESPA too.’
Dyelan Copeland, Director at Practical Publishing comments: ‘Sign Africa and Visual Communications Africa are successful, well-attended events but we know that, by partnering with FESPA, we can take them to another level. FESPA Africa will set out to deliver a new experience for African business audiences, at a time when they need global expertise and insight to help them embrace the opportunities of wide format print. Johannesburg is the perfect location for FESPA Africa, with an excellent infrastructure and connections to other major cities in sub-Saharan Africa.’
Sales, operations and marketing for FESPA Africa will be handled jointly between a South African team and the FESPA events office in Reigate, UK.
