Beyond the Showgrounds: Turning Agricultural Show Exposure into Lasting SME Business

By Alain Kabinda

The crowds have disappeared; the exhibition stands have been dismantled and the activity that characterised the Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Showgrounds has returned to normal.

But for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the end of the show does not necessarily mean the end of the business opportunity.

For entrepreneurs who participated in the 98th Agricultural and Commercial Show, held from July 29 to August 3, 2026 under the theme “Fostering Trade and Investment,” the real test is now whether the exposure, contacts and relationships created during the event can be converted into sustainable business.

Among those determined to make the opportunity count is Gift Siame, an SME exhibitor dealing in products like peanut batter, Millet and soya beans.

For Siame, the show was more than an opportunity to display products to thousands of visitors. It became a platform for building a database of potential customers and business partners.

And speaking to Daily News in Lusaka Mr. Gift Siame said,

“We made sure that we did not just exchange contacts and forget about them after the show. We started following up with the people who visited our stand,” Siame says.

His experience highlights one of the most important lessons for SMEs participating in large exhibitions: the value of an exhibition can extend far beyond the days that it is running.

During the show, Siame encountered visitors who expressed interest in his products but were not immediately ready to buy.

Instead of waiting for those potential customers to return on their own, he continued engaging them after the exhibition through marketing and follow-up.

“We have continued marketing after the show because we realised that some people who visited our stand were genuinely interested in what we are producing. The contacts we collected have helped us to keep communicating with potential customers,” he said.

According to Siame, some of the contacts have returned with enquiries and orders, while others have opened doors to additional potential customers.

“Some people who visited us at the show have since contacted us to make enquiries and place orders. Others have connected us to people who are interested in our products. For us, that is one of the biggest benefits we got from exhibiting,” Siame said.

For an SME operating in a competitive market, such connections can be just as important as direct sales made during the exhibition.

The show gives businesses an opportunity to meet consumers, retailers, distributors, investors and other entrepreneurs in one place. But unless those relationships are maintained, much of that opportunity can disappear once the exhibition closes.

Rather than considering the Agricultural and Commercial Show a six-day marketing event, entrepreneurs can use it as the beginning of a longer commercial relationship.

Every serious enquiry, telephone number, WhatsApp contact or business card collected at the exhibition can potentially become a customer, supplier, distributor or business partner.

“The important thing is follow-up. You can meet hundreds of people at the show, but if you do not contact them afterwards, you may lose the opportunity. We are still using the contacts we collected and continuing to market our products,” Siame said.

The first step after the show should be to organise the contacts collected and separate potential customers from general visitors.

Businesses can then follow up with quotations, product information, samples, prices and delivery arrangements, depending on the nature of the enquiry.

Social media platforms, particularly WhatsApp Business, can also allow SMEs to maintain regular communication with customers without incurring the costs associated with traditional advertising.

Businesses have to pay for exhibition space, transport, branding, staff, accommodation in some cases, product samples and promotional materials.

The return on that investment should therefore not be judged only by the amount of money made during the exhibition.

A successful exhibition can generate longer-term value through new customers, orders, distribution agreements, partnerships and market intelligence.

The visitors to his stand provided more than an audience for his farming products. They provided potential connections that the business could continue developing after the event.

“We want to keep growing. The show gave us exposure, but what we do after the show is what will determine whether that exposure becomes sustainable business,” Siame said.

The post-show period also provides an opportunity for SMEs to assess what they learnt from consumers and competitors and an entrepreneur who received repeated questions about packaging, pricing, product quality or availability can use that information to improve the business.

For manufacturers and agro-processors, demand generated at the show can also inform production decisions also if visitors demonstrate strong interest in a particular product, the SME can assess whether it has the capacity to produce and supply that product consistently.

Instead of simply asking how much was sold during the show, entrepreneurs can ask deeper questions:

Who showed interest in our products? What were they looking for? What prevented them from buying? What products attracted the most attention? Can we supply larger orders? Which markets should we target next?

Another opportunity created by the Agricultural and Commercial Show is the possibility of expanding beyond the Lusaka market and other Visitors came from different parts of the country, creating opportunities for SMEs to identify retailers, distributors and potential customers in other provinces.

An SME that begins with a small customer base can gradually build distribution networks that take its products closer to farmers and consumers in other parts of Zambia.

While SMEs have a responsibility to follow up on the opportunities they create, the responsibility should not rest entirely on individual entrepreneurs.

for Siame, the experience has changed his understanding of what it means to exhibit at a major business event  and the most valuable outcome may not necessarily be what happened while the crowds were at the showgrounds, but what happens afterwards.

His decision to continue marketing and following up with contacts demonstrates how SMEs can extend the commercial life of an exhibition.

For Zambia's SMEs, the Agricultural and Commercial Show should therefore not be viewed as an event that ends when the gates close.

The real show begins afterwards—when the contacts are followed up, enquiries become orders, customers become regular clients and exposure becomes sustainable business.

That is when the promise of “Fostering Trade and Investment” moves from the exhibition grounds into the everyday reality of Zambia's local businesses.

(c) All Rights Reserved.