Spintelligent events AUW, Agritech Expo, DRC Mining Week and Real Estate Summit winners at AAXO ROAR Awards

“Getting recognition in this competitive expo industry is immensely rewarding”

Leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser Spintelligent has won four major awards at the *ROAR Organiser and Exhibitor Awards in Johannesburg which honour excellence in the exhibition and events industry on the continent. The awards were organised jointly by the Association of African Exhibition Organisers (AAXO) and the Exhibition & Event Association of Southern Africa (EXSA).

*ROAR = Respect, Opportunities, Achievement, Recognition

African Utility Week, Spintelligent’s flagship energy event for the last 17 years, was the joint winner in the Best Trade Exhibition 6001-12000 sqm category, sharing the honours with the World Travel Market.  Agritech Expo Zambia won two awards: for Best Trade & Consumer Exhibition 12000+ sqm and for Distinction in Social Responsibility Award.  The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, which was a launch event for the company in 2016, won the Best Confex category. The DRC Mining Week was also a finalist in the Social Responsibility category.

“It was a clean sweep for Spintelligent and I could not be prouder of our teams”, says an excited Spintelligent MD David Ashdown. “We work incredibly hard to produce successful, relevant and innovative events for our clients in exciting industries such as energy, agriculture and mining. To also get recognition from our peers in this competitive expo industry is immensely rewarding as it inspires us to work even harder and to take things up a notch every year.”

He adds: “the AAXO ROAR Awards honoured both long-standing events such as African Utility Week, to a more recent project such as Agritech Expo as well as a launch show, African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, which is part of our new property portfolio. It shows that we are still on the right track, while also receiving the nod of approval for our newer initiatives.”

ROAR Awards

• Best Trade Exhibition 6001-12000 sqm category (joint winner):
  The 17th edition of African Utility Week, the flagship pan-African power and water platform, will take place again in Cape Town in May and gather some 7000 attendees from around 80 countries, including many African nations, as well as 250 exhibitors and 299 high-level conference speakers while more than 80 power and water utilities will be represented.

  Spintelligent’s Group Director for Power, Energy and Real Estate, Le-Ann Hare Keymer says: “we share Africa’s goals of economic growth and prosperity for all, especially working in the power, energy and real estate sectors. It is a privilege to be part of the continent’s development through our events and particularly to be recognised for excellence and innovation”.

• Best Trade & Consumer Exhibition +12000 sqm Award and Distinction in Social Responsibility Award:
  “The Agritech Expo Zambia team is honoured and thankful for the recognition of what they have achieved over the last three years” says Emmanuelle Nicholls, Natural Resources Group Director, “building the event from scratch in a field in the middle of Zambia.” She adds “their commitment, blood, sweat and tears bear testimony to the uniqueness of this event.”

The fourth edition of Agritech Expo Zambia will also return to Chisamba in April – last year the outdoor farming expo attracted a record-breaking attendance of 17 605 visitors.
The expo also has an outreach programme at the local Golden Valley Basic School, where, with the assistance of numerous event sponsors, it is assisting the school with much
needed infrastructure upgrades, equipment supplies and management of the school’s farm.

• Best Confex Award:
  “Winning Africa’s Best Confex for the inaugural African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit is testament to the creativity, innovation, resourcefulness and hard-work that the entire Spintelligent event team contributed to the project” says event director Richard Stubbs. With the support of Wesgro and the Transport Development Agency, we look forward to realising the vision of a continental meeting place for African Built Environment professionals, and hopefully many more awards along the way.”

More than 300 sector experts will gather for the second edition of the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit in September in Cape Town this year with interactive sessions
that focus on key case studies of visionary city planning, investment opportunities in the commercial and residential real estate sectors across the continent.

• Distinction in Social Responsibility Award – finalist:
  DRC Mining Week takes place again in June, hosting more than 1500 visitors in the mining hub of Lubumbashi. The event is also an active supporter of the Kinsevere Community School Project in Lubumbashi, which includes the preparation of hot meals for 500 children on Sundays, access to water through a borehole and the school sponsorship of 25 gifted kids in the community.

  “The DRC Mining Week team has been working hard to grow within and outside the company” says event director Elodie Delagneau, “and while our big brother event, Agritech Expo, was a well-deserved winner in this category we are incredibly proud to have been a finalist and this just motivates us to up our game!”

Spintelligent is well known for organising exhibitions and conferences across the continent in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include Agritech Expo Tanzania, CBM-TEC, Kenya Mining Forum, Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Future Energy Central Africa (formerly iPAD Cameroon), iPAD Nigeria Mining Forum, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group.

Website: http://www.spintelligent.com
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Media contact:
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3500
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.com