“Africa is Africa. It’s very difficult. You can’t come once a year and think that you will be able to do business. It’s the third time we’ve been here. In Europe, you go, you do business once. Africa is not like that. You must come, you must meet people, they must see you, touch the products. It’s a longer process. Another problem in Africa is that people are starting businesses, so money is a rare resource,” Nehaldas stated.

Despite these challenges, Enterprise Mauritius believes that African consumers will be attracted to Mauritian products. Enterprise Mauritius business cards display the motto, “Made With Care,” and it is this commitment to quality that they hope will set their products apart from other imports.

“In Africa, people are used to low quality products from China. We produce quality products. We can’t beat the Chinese in price, you have to be frank. So we have to propose something else, and that’s quality,” Nehaldas explained.

Helen Talbot, another exhibitor selling handmade jewellery, appealed to the same sentiment.

“Each of my pieces are unique, not like the ready-made stuff from China,” Talbot said with pride.

Business owners like Talbot are supported by Enterprise Mauritius. The organization studies target markets and tries to match those markets to appropriate Mauritian companies.

“We go inside the countries, see what they are importing, what the market is. . . If there are companies that have the potential to export, but they are not yet exporting, we work closely with them to get them ready for export. This means standards, packaging, market environment, we do all this work to make sure they are prepared for an event like this,” Nehaldas said.

According to exhibitor Shahil Ramchurn, a building and civil engineering contractor, businesses have to apply and be accepted to participate in the expos.

“I have paid with my own funds at first,” Talbot explained. “But in three months the delegation [Enterprise Mauritius] will refund me.”

Although some exhibitors expressed the pressure they were under to make a certain number of orders at the expo, overall the participants agreed that the event was beneficial.

“At this expo we’ve had individuals who want to buy for home use, and businesses who want to buy larger quantities,” Augustine noted, motioning to his display of metal products.

“This expo has been very successful,” Ramchurn said. “We’ve had good exposure to other countries in Africa.”