The Dubai expo is a globally recognized trade expo being hosted by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. Dubai was named as the host on November 27, 2013 by The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) General Assembly in Paris under the name Expo 2020. The event was originally scheduled for October 20, 2020 to April 10,2021, it was postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
The Ugandan pavilion at the Expo has attracted a lot of criticism with many people blaming the ‘mess’ at the expo to the many politicians that travelled for the expo.
Amos Masaba Wekesa a businessman, entrepreneur and corporate executive in Uganda, who is the founder, proprietor and managing director of Great Lakes Safaris Limited, a tour operating company, in the African Great Lakes region.
His conglomerate of related tour businesses grosses an estimated US$8 million annually, and employs in excess of 250 people.
Wekesa’s take on the Dubai Expo
Eh, I got and am still getting lots of messages about our display in Dubai at the expo. Some people thinking am responsible for that which isn’t true. My reading is that Ugandans want to see the country shine. Leaders must listen.
Dubai has invested about usd 7bn in this particular expo and that shows how important its for them. Dubai plays ball at a very different level and it’s admirable. Dubai guys understand marketing and position.
Dubai whose wealth was transported on donkeys in the 1980s boosts of 3 main sectors pushing them higher and higher. The 3 sectors are tourism( the last time I read, every 5th building is a hotel), real estate and finance. Oil only contributes 5%.
We must all appreciate the fact that most of us not all including our politicians look at capitalism in terms of consumption as opposed to production bit of it. Consumption is responsible for many leaders being in Dubai now.
The other challenge is that government organs work in silos just like us citizens. Its difficult for us to work together for a common good though that is changing slowly. It’s not at the speed we ought to be moving at. The competing countries are doing it diffently.
Yes there are times we should fight each other and there must be times we all rally for opportunities as Ugandans. Yes, there will still be some opportunities out of Dubai Expo but too little compared to what we would have had if we were organised.
Recently on front line NBS TV, I said there isn’t any country in the world that can grow without a clear external growth strategy. Uganda for example looks at say 10 countries and says, we must earn 20bn dollars from each annually.
The 78 South African companies operating here are part of the external business strategy of South Africa. They earn about usd500m annually from our small economy annually. The 4 Kenyan banks and several other businesses operating here are part of Kenya’s external business strategy. Those governments push their private sector to achieve.
A poor onion grower from Lwakhakha can never empower another peasant farmer from Kaberebere growing bananas, never. They both must access higher external paying markets for them to be relevant to each other.
With a clear external strategy, you choose the right human resource from ambassadors, commercial representatives plus deploying of right resources to achieve desired goals. My small businesses teach me that all the time.
The right human resource would have worked together in advance for the case of Dubai expo on design for example, products to display, human resource to man the stalls or booths, marketing of the stalls, networking meetings etc.
The Chinese for example can make almost everything but they will never make our weather, The nile, lake Victoria, concentrations of birds, our organic foods etc. The idea is about selling to them expensively things they can’t create, have in the country.
You don’t try to sell them what they are good at but things that are unique to you. You will require a research team that will have actually figures, for example, they will need 10m pineapples,you work backwards with farmers to deliver required amounts. You negotiate good pricing for them as an incentive.
They would for example love to see the source of the longest river, make sure you put up Great marketing efforts which makes the Chinese feel like if they don’t visit that source, then they are a no body.
