With more than 3,800 companies vying for attention in Dubai at the Gulfood exhibition, which ends today, the effort to secure a deal can drive even the best of business executives a little bit nutty.
But some have tried creating the right environment by focusing on design. ProChile, the trade commission for Chile, crafted a stand to take advantage of the South American country's explosion of walnut exports to the UAE. The nation's sales to the Emirates more than quintupled in value last year to US$15 million (Dh55m).
ProChile is showcasing 17 companies at Gulfood this year, up from 10 last year, and gave food producers "counter tops" with built-in display cases to show off not only walnuts but also almonds, raisins and other dried goods.
Seats just behind the counters were reserved for one-on-one meetings.
"The design is very important," said Carlos Salas, a trade commissioner of Chile based at the country's embassy in the UAE.
"There is some privacy to negotiate," he added. "The important thing in the Middle East is face-to-face relationships."
The attention to design detail paid off: ProChile received this year's Gulfood Award for "best trade stand" - among those occupying more than 100 square metres, that is.
Exhibitors also held some of their meetings away from the expo.
ProChile hosted a networking event on Monday night at a nearby hotel and plans to serve authentic Chilean food to key importers tonight at a special dinner.
Employees at Bega Cheese, the biggest publicly listed dairy business in Australia, planned to meet with customers at a non-expo venue in Dubai.
"We're seeing a lot of our wholesalers and customers are coming to the stand," said Aidan Coleman, the chief executive of Bega Cheese. "At the same time, it's an opportunity to have private meetings outside the show, over various dinners and a more casual atmosphere, where it's a lot more quiet.
"Gulfood is an excellent show, but with that comes all the noise."
Not everyone was bothered by the hustle and bustle, however. Some exhibitors saw in the crowds an opportunity to steer visitors to their stands - with the help of certain incentives.
Mariana De Nadai, the chief executive of Unifrutti Asia, sent her daughterwith product managers to roam the exhibition halls offering pieces of fruit, samples of ice cream and directions to the company's booth.
It was Unifrutti Asia's first time at Gulfood, and Ms De Nadai said her team was focused less on securing deals at the show and more on "learning to understand how people behave".
Setting up meetings with potential customers can take weeks or even months. Embassies sometimes play a part behind the scenes in enabling introductions.
"Whenever we get any query, it's channelled to [our trade attaché in Dubai]," says Yacoob Abba Omar, South Africa's ambassador to the UAE.
"They work with a huge database of people in the UAE, as well as companies in South Africa, then they link up," he said. "Exhibitions of this sort are the peak of a marketing process that begins long in advance."
All that planning, and patience, can pay off for food producers and distributors. Last year, the value of deals secured by companies from South Africa amounted to about $3m. The figure is expected to increase this year as South African exports to the UAE continue to grow.
Organisers of the South African pavilion booked meeting rooms in the exhibition hall for their exhibitors and even provided a food bar in a glass-enclosed room.
A top executive of the South African company Iqlaas Foods, which supplies beef pies and samosas to the UAE and provided some of the snacks at the South African pavilion's food bar, said businessmen in the Emirates want to ensure a company is committed to this region before they will strike a deal.
"They come in the first year, they sit and they chat and then they walk away," said Muhammad Osman, Iqlaas Foods' director, who is attending Gulfood for the fourth time. "Then they come and look the year after."
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