29 Entrepreneurs to benefit from cosmetic exhibition
Technoserve, in partnership with Global Shea Alliance (GSA), is sponsoring about 29 small and medium enterprises to take part in the upcoming cosmetic exhibition in South Africa.
Advertisement
Dubbed “Professional Beauty Johannesburg 2016” the event is scheduled for August 28-29, this year and it will assemble about 200 exhibitors and 18,000 visitors across the world.
The programme is also expected to provide the needed platform for players in the cosmetic industry to conduct business, network, and source suppliers.
Speaking to the Graphic Business on the sidelines of a workshop in Accra, the Sustainability Coordinator of the GSA, Mrs Sydney Henderson, said the GSA was seeking to expand the shea markets for start-ups and also promote the use of shea-based cosmetics made in Africa.
“We will also sponsor about six start-ups to Morocco to undertake in the trade and investment summit slated for September 19-23, 2016 which is aimed at showcasing the region’s best social entrepreneurs in both craft and textiles and natural skin care,” she said.
She added that Global Shea Alliance was committed to improving and promoting the shea industry across the continent, in order to create international market for the start-ups in the shea industry.
Workshop
Meanwhile, the workshop was organised to equip selected start-ups under the African Youth Agripreneurship Programme (AYAP), with the best practices in packaging in order to meet international standards.
The Executive Director of Khols & Hols Insurance Brokers, Dr Andrews Akola, advised local manufacturers to put premium on the packaging of their products.
That, he said, would position them well to penetrate the international market and compete with other firms.
Dr Akola, who was the resource person at the workshop, opined that one major reason why Ghanaian firms, especially those in the manufacturing sector, continuously found it difficult to penetrate the international market was their packaging.
According to him, there was the need for start-ups to have an innovative team that had the know-how to develop appealing designs that could attract the consumer.
He added that over 80 per cent of products consumed were from the outlook and, therefore, companies must do well to add more to the packaging of their products.
Multinational companies that had achieved so much and continued to gain more grounds, were doing so because of their appealing packaging on the market.