Staff Reporter
THE Ondangwa Trade and Industrial Exposition (OTIE) 2025, which kicked off on Friday and was officially opened on Tuesday, has attracted slightly more exhibitors — 280 compared to last year’s 270 — but small-scale businesses are not very impressed by the apparent decline in the number of customers compared to previous editions.
Naluno, the representative of the Windhoek-based Naluno Investment CC, which trades primarily in toys, said that even though the Expo was perfectly timed, coinciding with the end of the month, there has only been a trickle of customers.
She said that she participated as an exhibitor at previous editions of the Expo where — unlike this time — business was excellent.
She said that at the beginning of June she was at the Oshakati Totem Expo and also participated at the recent Olufuko Festival at Outapi. Her experience at all three events was the same: trickling buyers.
“Maybe it is indicative of the people’s decreasing buying power,” she said.
Peya Amunime of Tangi Oshili Trading echoed the same sentiments.
She said she is a regular participant at the Ondangwa Expo. “Business here is not too bad, but it is not as good as previously either,” she said.
However, despite the claimed slow business, exhibitors and visitors are benefiting immensely from expert presentations and the sharing of information about a variety of products and services.
The OTIE 2025, which attracted 280 local, national and international exhibitors, was officially opened by Urban and Rural Development Minister James Sankwasa on Tuesday.
He praised the Expo as a platform to foster sustainability within Ondangwa and the broader Oshana Region by providing a vital meeting space for the public, corporate entities, and the business community to interact directly with consumers and prospective business partners.
On Saturday, there will be an awards ceremony for the best exhibitors in various categories before the event concludes on Monday.
