By Yemisi Suleiman

BtoB Events are set to hold the Annual Beauty West Africa Exhibition and Conference from 20th-22nd November 2019 in Lagos, the commercial nerve center of Nigeria and the Beauty Hub in West Africa.

BtoB Events are a dynamic global exhibition organizer, headed by MD Jamie Hill, a former Divisional Director for Africa of an FTSE 100 organization within the global exhibition industry. Having overseen exhibitions across four continents, plus a portfolio of 8 exhibitions across Africa including West Africa’s largest Beauty exhibition; Mr. Hill has been committed to presenting the opportunity of Nigeria’s Market and the huge potential that exists to partner with local companies.

Last year, BtoB Events made a big impact on Nigeria’s Beauty Sector via its international exhibition platform – Beauty West Africa; which mobilized over 100 companies into Nigeria from across the World.

This was via representations through the Export Promotion Agencies of the following Countries; Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia and many more, with the objective of ‘fostering trade links with Nigeria’ being a clear focus, these international brands participated at BWA 2018 in addition to the local brands.

Exhibitors that were present from different Continents were as follows: (44%) Africa, (23%) Asia, (19%) Europe, and 10% from the Middle East; which demonstrates the truly international nature of the Beauty West Africa platform.

When asked what he hopes to achieve in future editions of the event, Jamie Hill talks about the importance of collaborating with key stakeholders in Nigeria’s business sphere to showcase the Nigerian opportunity.

He shared the huge success of the collaboration with the Bank of Industry Nigeria during the 2018 Edition, citing that the Bank of Industry’s involvement provided support to SMEs via presentations of the Bank’s offering to help businesses upscale.

Businesses were therefore able to gain direct access and engagements with SMEs, and the International Business Community who are desirous of doing business in Nigeria.

Mr. Hill also mentioned the very crucial support of Darling Nigeria, a division of the Godrej Company, who are top manufacturers of various beauty products.

Their sponsored workshops and master classes within the conference helped to further inspire professionals on ways to successfully build the capabilities of their Nigerian beauty brands.

The testimony of the Darling brand as a long-standing market leading manufacturer in West Africa, was well received by the International brands exploring the Nigerian market via the Beauty West Africa exhibition.

Last year, BtoB Events joined forces with a Nigerian based consultancy as their conference partner at the event; Compass Global Business Services a consultancy specializing in Business Development, New Market Entry, International Trade, Investments, and Export Promotion.

The collaboration led to both parties teaming up to organising the conference with the local community in mind.
This naturally led onto mobilizing the support of the Government and ensuring key players across the private sector were involved.

Compass CEO, and Conference partner; Tokunbo Chiedu speaking on her firm’s objective of going into the partnership said, “Our job is to promote the brand Nigeria. As a company in the international trade, investment, and export promotion space; our work provides a gateway into the Nigerian market. We are partnering with BtoB Events with the aim of developing the sector and working with key stakeholders within the domestic market. We also aim to foster linkages between Nigerian and international brands on the Beauty West Africa Exhibition platform.”

Jamie Hill elaborates on the expansion of Beauty West Africa for 2019, “Beauty West Africa 2019 will be even bigger and better than last year. The exhibition is now over 2 halls with double the amount of exhibitors, new international pavilions and a significant increase in regards to the number of business opportunities available.

We are really looking forward to the numerous possibilities that this will bring to Nigeria and contributing towards the growth of the African beauty market.”
All road leads to the Landmark Centre in Lagos, Nigeria from the 20th-22nd November 2019.

Want to exhibit? Although the Beauty West Africa floor space is fast approaching full capacity, there are a few stands left. Contact the Beauty West Africa team on [email protected] to learn more.
Attendance is FREE for pre-registered guests.