PMMI expands food packaging horizons in Africa
PMMI and Ipack-Ima are launching East Afripack to capitalize on opportunities in the booming regional market.
PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, is joining with Italian trade fair producer Ipack-Ima Spa to launch East Afripack
The event (scheduled September 9-12 in Nairobi, Kenya) will connect technology providers with producers working in or looking to enter the region.
Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of global markets for PMMI (the producer of the annual PACK EXPO processing and packaging exposition and conference), spoke with FoodProductionDaily about the event, and what it can provide for food and packaging companies looking to take advantage of the region’s economic growth.
Packaging in Africa: Fast-Moving Consumer Goods
Bagged milk, foil-wrapped cashews, and paper-wrapped take-away of an oily African dish are the headaches of daily life in Africa. Such packaging no-no’s are not a problem if you are selling the product on the street to a passersby and anyone else who does not have an extra few minutes to decipher between a good product and a bad product.
There are numerous variables that make a good product. But ultimately packaging is the one variable that can always make a good product look like a bad product. This week’s article looks at packaging in Africa and its intricate role in the development of Africa’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.
When you talk fast-moving consumer goods in Africa, the opportunity is generally built around consolidating the value chain onshore within the country. Africa’s growing consumer class pays higher prices for imported products and partially imported products (i.e. those products that largely include imported raw materials).
Konica Minolta seeks enhanced presence in Kenya
Konica Minolta, a global leader in provision of office business solutions, is seeking to take advantage of the developing business infrastructure in the region to enhance its presence in the market.
Visiting Business Support Manager for East African Countries Mr. Paul Tihn said the fast expanding business and Information Technology sector offers opportunities for Konica Minolta to provide the market with office equipment that will enhance efficiency and productivity.
Mr. Tihn spoke at the Pride Inn Hotel in Nairobi while launching the Konica Minolta on the Move campaign where buses on key routes in Nairobi will be fully branded with Konica Minolta's Office and Production Printing Solutions products as the company gears to launch new products mid-this year. The campaign is in partnership with some PSV operators and Konica Minolta's local partners Express Automation.
Africa's Emerging Market Boom
These days, the mere mention of emerging markets is probably enough to make investment bankers break out in a cold sweat. Recent darlings of the investment world—India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Russia and others—have all stumbled, in part as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s decision to dial back its economic stimulus. Yet African markets appear more buoyant relative to their emerging market peers.
Currently home to five of the world’s dozen fastest-growing economies, Africa’s comparably strong performance over the past five years is about more than commodity supercycle and the boon of debt relief. Improved macroeconomic management has played its part, and increasingly, so has the rise of the African consumer.
