Gateway to fiasco: Maha Expo turns into a maha tamasha

Entrepreneurs at the Maha Expo ’98 industrial exhibition at the Garware stadium are undergoing a nerve-wrecking experience as their eyes hunt for the elusive customer intent on transacting business. They can wait till kingdom come, for most of the visitors are here for the fun fest and cultural events, clearly the scene-stealers at `Marathwada’s gateway of opportunities’.

Hundreds of small businessmen and traders have set up about 300 stalls but they are sore with the Marathwada Industries Association, which has organisedthe exhibition for not advertising the event appropriately.

“The Maha Expo has turned into a maha tamasha,” says a trader, adding that the industry’s big guns do not require exhibitions to promote their interests. Neither do the ones who have come need mangy stalls to crack business deals. They are here to hob-nob with politicians and bureaucrats and forge contacts, while upcoming traders scout around hungrily for prospective clients, he points out.

Which is why many of them are bitter with the cultural programmes being staged at the exhibition, grabbing much of the attention. Anu Malik performed on Sunday; today it was Minhaz and Daler Mehndi and Manek Davar are lined up next. Nana Patekar, Dilip Kumar and Raj Babbar will also entertain the vast audience.

“The organisers have tried to mix too much entertainment with too little business,” says Rajesh Kunte of Rajdeep Industrial Products Ltd, Pune. “The crowd comes here not knowing what to expect. We have children and housewives crowding theplace as if it were some fair. I have had not more than three to four serious visitors in the last two days, which is shocking considering that I have sunk more than Rs 20,000 on my stall,” Kunte adds.Not that many of them expect to clinch too many deals over the counter at the expo. “That does not happen at such meets. But we do expect to come across potential clients who will one day get back to us if not with orders, at least with inquiries,” says Madhav Vidwans, who has all but stopped handing out his business cards to visitors at his stall. “I have not come all the way from Mumbai to visit commoners,” he cribs.

Vidwans feels the organisers have failed to advertise the exhibition appropriately. “It is not that there is no potential in Marathwada. I already have at least 20 clients in Aurangabad, eight in Jalna and two each at Kannad and Paithan. I can only conclude that this event hasn’t been given the serious, business image it deserved,” he explains.