Women in Business Trade Expo June Saturday & Sunday 12th - 13th 2004
The Chamber of Commerce presented Southland’s first Women in Business Trade Expo on the 12 and 13 June at the Ascot Park Hotel.
The objectives in initiating the event were to:
• Stage a marketing event for Southland Women in Business
• Help grow individual businesses by an alternative promotion and exposure to a wider audience
• Celebrate the diversity of businesses run by women
• Create a support network for women in business
• Inspire prospective business opportunities from the audience.
The Expo achieved all of the objectives above although numbers of general public going through were not as high as expected.
The exhibitors were an incredible mixture of talent, business acumen and inspiration. The range of businesses included, photography, specialised cookware, small business accounting, educational books, child care agency, employment recruitment, personalised cards, graphic and art designer, a fitness centre, netball, promotional gifts, massage and relaxation, cosmetics, chocolate, jewellery, SIT incubator programmes, Young Enterprise teams and also trade stands from national companies.
The Chamber’s stand was kept very busy with members of the public wanting to know how to go about setting up a business and also enquiring about what the Chamber could do for them. Information and resources were eagerly gobbled up and no one left without at least an hour’s worth of reading material.
The public that went through all commented on what an interesting show it was and on observation most people spent an hour or sometimes up to two hours looking around and trialling everything on offer. They also left with arms full of information and products.
The businesses also achieved successful results. One start-up business (only eight weeks old) a stainless steel bed manufacturer, not only sold 2 beds but acquired referrals to various furniture retailers. Another business gained new clients, not only from the public but the exhibitors themselves. Another group of exhibitors are in the process of combining their resources to promote their complimentary businesses.
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