Beauty West Africa (BWA), the region’s largest international beauty and cosmetics show, will open with an expanded format designed to showcase local beauty entrepreneurs.

Following the impressive success of last year’s launch of the new beauty sector event, BWA 2019 is extending the zone dedicated to promoting smaller businesses. Having generated so much international interest in the region last year, the show is expanding into a second hall to accommodate all the new exhibitors this year, both local and from overseas.

BWA 2019 will run from November 20 to 22 at the Landmark Centre, Lagos. With more than 200 exhibitors and over 4,500 visitors expected, the trade show has quickly become the ‘must attend’ event in the West African cosmetics and beauty calendar. And while the show is aimed at anyone who works in the beauty industry, the third day of the event will be open to the public.

BWA was launched last November by BtoB Events, the team which has also launched Food and Beverage West Africa and West Africa Automotive Show, all in Lagos over the past 12 months. Jamie Hill, BtoB Event’s Managing Director and main organiser for BWA, said: “We are excited to see the major growth in the local participation for the second edition of BWA. We have extended the SME zone to spread across both halls which underlines our passion to support local Nigerian business.

“We also have collaborated with the Bank of Industry to help support access to finance through the BoI by facilitating applications through our website.”

Reflecting the growing international interest in business opportunities in West Africa, Mr Hill continued: “We are also extremely excited about welcoming new companies from across the world to Nigeria for the first time. We have a number of really exciting new exhibitors making their first venture into Africa, offering exclusive opportunities for our attendees.”

BWA has two new gold sponsors this year, international fragrance brand Lyla Blanc and the hair product brand Cantu. And as part of the show’s diverse offering, BWA will run a beauty conference programme over the three days organised in partnership with Compass Consulting.

As Mr Hill explains: “Our conference program underpins the importance of education and knowledge sharing and is designed to empower local businesses within the sector to navigate the issues faced with building customer base and expanding product portfolios.” Topics discussed at the conference will range from product registration to social media to exporting and branding.

Last year’s line-up of Conference speakers included Tara Fela-Durotoye (founder of House of Tara International), Ifeamaka Umeike, (founder of Natural Nigerian) and Kiki Osinbajo.

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