The Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre at Mesqel Square caught the attention of Mutasim Eltegail, a Sudanese national, who is visiting Ethiopia for three weeks with his family.

He was looking for spices and Emebet Mekonnen’s booth, one of 500 vendors at the exhibition, caught his eye.

Organised by Habesha Weekly Promotions Plc, the venue opened on April 5, 2019, and will run until the eve of Ethiopian Easter on April 27.

“I bought toys, sandals and bags for my children,” he said. “The price is good, and I had a variety of options.”

The last item on his shopping list was spices, which he found at Emebet’s booth. She had displayed ten different spices with price tags that ranged from 40 Br to 90 Br.

Saying that customers are well aware of the quality of the products she sells, Emebet offers no discounts on her products.

“But the exhibition is not as we expected. We had planned to sell at least 3,000 Br worth of spices a day,” she adds. “We have managed only a third of that now.”

The exhibition, organised by Habesha Weekly, a decade-old local event organiser and promoter, was also responsible for last year's Easter and Christmas exhibitions. Habesha Weekly also hosts a weekly entertainment program at one of the local television stations, JTV, founded by a young musician, Joseph Gebre.

It won the bid to put up the expo at the Exhibition Centre, which hosts nearly 40 exhibitions a year, by placing a bid of 21 million Br with the Addis Abeba Exhibition & Marketing Development Enterprise, the venue manager. The tender to host the expo only considers financial offers and not technical capacity.

Owned by the Addis Abeba City Administration, the centre rests on a 27,000Sqm plot adjacent to Mesqel Square and is administered by the Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral Association.

The centre has three operation pavilions with varying sizes: the first pavilion can accommodate 90 minimum-sized stalls, while the second and third pavilions can hold up to 48 booths each. Open space outside of the pavilions can accommodate an additional 140 stalls.

Habesha expects half a million visitors for the expo that features concerts by prominent musicians. During last Christmas, 524,000 people visited the centre.

Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre has been the lone exhibition venue for years until Millennium Hall opened a decade ago. The City Administration is planning to expand the facility with a huge investment.

Habesha spent six million Birr in advertising, promotions and entertainments. A 300Sqm Jurassic Park themed entertainment facility has been constructed, hosting seven dinosaur replicas that stand 12m high and weigh around half a tonne.

The park, which costs 50 Br to enter, had been visited by over 10,000 people by April 18, 2019. It costs 30 Br to 40 Br to enter the expo, which has already been visited by 310,000 customers.

“We increase the entrance fees to 40 Br in the afternoon, because a lot of people come for entertainment at that time,” said Samson Shiferaw, public relations head of Habesha.

He acknowledges that there are challenges, especially in the number of exhibitors that participated, which is 13 less than the last major holiday, Christmas, and the prices of goods are higher.

“The main reason for the decrease in the number of exhibitors is the shortage of foreign exchange, which has meant that they can’t import goods,” Samson said. “We discussed with the exhibitors to discount the price of goods.”