“We ensure positive outcome by utilizing our media strength to reach out to potential buyers from all across globe”-S Jafar Naqvi

TFT : Thank you for giving your precious time to speak with TFT? Can you brief us a little about AGRITECH India 2015?
S Jafar Naqvi : AgriTech India is a unique proposition in regular events industry. It’s a mission where we encourage entrepreneurship among farmers. A Farmer is encouraged to experiment with various available farm based businesses like poultry, floriculture, dairy, food processing etc.
With its success in terms of its objective, we get increasing number of success stories every year. The exposition has become most prominent event of its kind in entire Indian nation.

TFT : What was the number of attendees at AGRITECH India 2015?
S Jafar Naqvi : The expo had over 350 stalls of companies bringing products, technologies & services of over 600 companies in this three day activity. In terms of visitors, it broke our past records with not only repeat visitor but also in terms of new prospective entrepreneurs. Preliminary figures put effectively over 35,000 visitors

TFT : What was the volume of business generated by the AGRITECH India 2015?
S Jafar Naqvi : Based on number of visitors, type of visitors and exhibitors products, we estimate about 50-100 crore worth business being transacted between various participants. However the real figures remain with the exhibitors who would rather keep it as their trade secret.

TFT : Were there other countries that participated in AGRITECH India EXPO apart from India and if so can you please name them?
S Jafar Naqvi : Primarily the exposition is for South Asian customers so a large number of countries who have products and services suitable for this segment were present. Participants from Turkey, Germany, Italy, China, Taiwan, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Jordon, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE, KSA, Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, UK, New Zealand, Australia, and many other nations converged, Indian exhibitors displayed products and services of many more countries. In all, I would call it an international exposition.

TFT : Is this an annual event or biannual event? What are the other activities that you are involved in?
S Jafar Naqvi : This is an annual event, in its 7th successful year. Our other activities include commercial horticulture exposition in North India, a Gardening Exposition in Hyderabad, and a Floriculture Show in Pune and Indian promotional events abroad.

TFT : Was this conference targeted to International market?
S Jafar Naqvi : The conference is an integral part of our expositions. Calling a conference International means it should have significant number of speakers and audience from foreign nations. This way, it definitely was an international conference.

TFT : How do you think AGRITECH India expo is different from other kisan melas and how will it benefit the participants, sponsors and the industry?
S Jafar Naqvi : India has a long tradition of kisan melas and they happen all across India. What differs AgriTech from such kisan melas is our profile of visitors and exhibitors. We attract dealers and distributors of agricultural & food processing technology to the show by focused promotional campaigns, apart from a large media exposure. So our visitors are mostly the people dealing in sale and purchase of agro-food technologies. High net worth Individuals and progressive farmers are also invited. This combined profile, ensures a B2B as well as B2C transactions. Increasing size of exhibition along with the increasing number of visitors with a large number of repeat visitors is alibi to the fact that they all find it useful and profitable. Sponsors get the brand mileage by getting repeat and uncluttered attention of all participants.

TFT : Did AGRITECH India EXPO meet your expectations?
S Jafar Naqvi : Media Today group has set its benchmarks very high. On practical level, if our event matches the expectations of exhibitors, we are happy however we believe improvement is a continuous process. There is always scope for improvement and we strive to achieve higher and higher level of results for both our exhibitors as well as visitors.

TFT : How did AGRITECH India Expo create a positive outcome for the stakeholders of AGRITECH India 2015?
S Jafar Naqvi : We provide positive outcome for visitors by ensuring that right products and services are available on display. There should be a mix and match of national and international participants so that visitors get what they are looking for, at a price band they are targeting. For exhibitors, we ensure positive outcome by utilizing our media strength to reach out to potential buyers from all across globe. We attract the potential buyers through targeted invitations, reminder mailers, SMS campaigns, TV & Radio publicity and general advertisements in Newspapers & Magazines apart from a strong Social Media Marketing. Participation and support of various industry & trade associations also helps getting serious B2B focused visitors.
Now days, time is money and we tried to ensure that every visitor walking into the exposition goes back satisfied.

TFT : Did the unique learning and sponsors/participants feedback help you in this year’s event?
S Jafar Naqvi : Yes.

TFT : Would you like to tie up with other exhibition organizations in the future?
S Jafar Naqvi : Media Today has established itself as a major dependable quality trade exposition organizer. We have recently signed cooperation agreements with established venue owners and organizers. We are open to further cooperation, joint ventures and franchising opportunities from other exhibition organizers and marketing agencies.