FESPA Africa and Sign Africa 2016, taking place from 7-9 September at Gallagher Convention Centre, will feature educational content and a variety of exhibitors showcasing the latest industry trends and new products geared at helping visitors expand their businesses and enter into new revenue streams, in line with the theme of the event: 'connect, diversify, grow'. 
 
The event attracts a high quality audience who want to take advantage of the signage and printing industry growth in Africa. Research from Whitehouse & Associates shows that the printing industry's growth and consumption indicates that the industry in Sub-Saharan Africa has grown extremely quickly over the last decade or so. 'Taking a basket of products, including printing machinery and a range of papers, it reveals that global exports to Sub-Saharan Africa of these products stood at R9bn (US$681m) in 2000, when the first ‘green shoots’ of Africa’s economic and political change began to become evident. By 2005, when the new commodity boom was well underway, this figure had risen to R18.2bn (US$1.3bn) and by 2010, just before the global slowdown began to impact on many African countries, it had reached a figure of R42bn (US$3bn). By 2014, the figure had reached R46.2bn (US$3.3bn), but had seen some stagnation over this last five years. Nonetheless, it represents growth of 12% a year over almost a decade and a half, which is impressive, given the twin challenges of economic slowdown and digital media that have impacted globally.'
 
With this growth in mind, FESPA Africa serves as the ideal event for brands educating visitors on the opportunities and business solutions in the signage and printing industry, which includes screen printing, wide format printing, garment decoration, branding, digital signage, vinyl graphics, laminating, finishing, pad printing, banners, flags, T-shirt printing, LED’s and laser engraving and cutting. Visitor statistics from the 2015 event confirm the quality of attendees, with almost 70% of the audience from senior job positions, 53% with final decision-making authority and 85% of visitors involved in the decision-making process. 
 
Platinum sponsors Roland and Avery Dennison are some of the companies that have signed on for this year's event. Other leading brands and global players who will feature at the expo include: Mimaki, Kornit, Epson, Canon, Durst, Aristo, Seiko, Mutoh, HP, Screen, Fujifilm, Avanti, Agfa, Esko, Klieverik, Zünd, Summa, swissQprint, Anajet, Caldera, Evonik, Océ, Trodat, 3M, Hexis and more. See the full list of exhibitors at www.fespaafrica.com
 
The 2015 event was a leading platform for equipment purchase. Exhibitors were very positive about the exhibition, with many reporting confirmed sales on the show floor, high-quality visitor traffic, and increased sales compared to the 2014 expo. 
 
Greg Van Heesch from Digifab echoed this sentiment: 'We were extremely happy with the event, we had a lot of good leads and we will be expanding our stand at the 2016 event.'
 
'We sold all the equipment that was exhibited at the show to clients within South Africa. It was a successful event all round; generating numerous new clients,' said Hans Vogt, Managing Director, Colorscreen.
 
'FESPA Africa is the largest show in Sub-Saharan Africa and the main attraction on the African continent, which made the expo the ideal location to launch our new printers, the Mimaki TS300P-1800 and SIJ-320UV,' said Mike Horsten, General Marketing Manager, Mimaki EMEA. 'Our wide range of high quality products have been accepted amazingly well and we've sold equipment off the show floor.’

There is an increased focus on Sub-Saharan Africa this year, with FESPA Africa hiring a dedicated marketing person and launching a strategic marketing plan to target this region, such as the FESPA Africa Forums hosted in Nigeria and Kenya. The objective of the forums is bringing together industry professionals from the digital wide format printing and signage sectors to discuss the future of the market, upcoming trends and new opportunities.

Delivered in-line with its Profit for Purpose programme, the Forum demonstrates FESPA’s commitment to reinvest in digital printing communities across the world through a range of centrally funded and supported initiatives.