Propak East Africa hailed as the biggest and best yet

Propak East Africa took place at the KICC in Nairobi on March 7-9 attracted participants from 43 different countries throughout Africa and the rest of the world. During the event, 123 exhibitors met with regional industry buyers to network and discuss future and existing business. One of the exhibitors, Hayssen Flexible Packaging from the UK, sold machinery onsite to one of its regional clients.

One of the core focuses for this edition from the organizers was to deliver real quality to all those involved, and 60 percent of visiting delegates were senior management with half of those being owners or CEOs of their companies.

South African exhibitor Boxmore Packaging said Propak East Africa, ‘worked very well for us.

‘We were able to generate new business and potential leads from a wide variety of different countries, not just within the East Africa region, but the whole world,’ said a Boxmore Packaging spokesperson.

A spokesperson for Sweden’s Swedev added: ‘Propak East Africa was so much better for us than we anticipated. It was our first time at the exhibition so we took a small stand in the second, smaller hall. However, this didn’t affect us at all, and after generating new leads in the region, we have decided to re-book for the 2018 show.’

Alongside the exhibition, the Propak conference ran for the three days of the event. Under the theme of ‘Proving the efficiency of packaging, printing and processing in East Africa’, the conference attracted senior delegates listening to talks from the likes of Coca-Cola, Robert Bosch, Kenya Bureau of Standards and Tetra Pak.

Alexander Angus, the East African regional director at Montgomery, the organizer of Propak East Africa, said: ‘We are thrilled that we have run another hugely successful Propak event here in Kenya. Going into the show, we had already grown it massively but the feedback that we have had from all participants is the real reward. It is clear that exhibitors have done well and are pleased with the show and with many already confirmed again for next year, we look forward to improving it further.’

The next edition of Propak East Africa takes place February 27 to March 1, 2018, with extended opening hours.