With 54 countries, Africa is a large continent with tremendous economic growth, investment, and rapidly rising living standards. Today Africa offers a host of opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses across the world as it marches towards a better economic future. All across the African markets, national and regional economies are steadily accelerating their growth and attracting foreign investors from all across the world. This drastic change is driven by a number of factors, including more democratic and accountable governments; economic policies which increasingly favour and facilitate international trade; a new generation of policy-makers and business leaders; innovative information and communication technologies; an emerging spirit of entrepreneurship; and a growing middle class of relative prosperity with a taste for modern consumer goods. As a matter of fact, six of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa, and the ease of doing business in Africa is improving to the extent that a good number of countries (including South Africa, Ghana, Mauritius and Tunisia) now outperform China, India, Brazil and Russia.  FDI inflows to Africa have also registered year-on-year growth since 2010 and now amount to US$ 50 billion. Forecasts by industry experts are leading to optimistic outlooks among those early movers who have already identified the huge potential of the African continent with its one billion people spread across 54 countries. It is time for enterprising businesses to seize the opportunity and look at the African markets seriously.  Population and Demographics More than 50% of Africa’s population is under 20 years old, making it the world’s youngest continent – in comparison only 28 % of the population of China is under 20 years old Almost 40% of the global population growth will be in Africa by 2050 500 million Africans are between the age of 18 and 24. By 2040, the forecast is 1.1 billion — more than in China or India Markets and Consumers Urban African consumers spend the largest share of their budgets (45%) on food and groceries –more than the average consumer in the BRIC countries Consumer expenditure is set to rise from USD 600 billion in 2010 to nearly USD 1 trillion in 2020 More than half of all African households are projected to have discretionary income by 2020 – corresponding to almost 130.000 households Consumer-facing industries (retail/wholesale, banking, telecommunication and tourism) in Africa are expected to grow by USD 400 billion by 2020, with apparel, consumer goods and food accounting for $185 billion Economic performance Average annual return on capital of African companies was 65-70% or higher than that of comparable companies in China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam GDP growth for the continent is forecast to grow at 5.4% in 2020 and 5.7% by 2025 6 of 10 of the world’s fastest growing economies are currently in Africa FDI inflows to Africa have increased by 13.6% and FDI outflows by 55.6% in the last two years. Doing business in Africa Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Botswana, Rwanda, Namibia, Ghana, South Africa, Liberia and Tunisia better than China and India in terms of the perceived corruption levels of public institutions African Economies: Marching Ahead in 2020 Africa’s fundamentals appear strong, and the continent’s outlook remains positive. The belief remains unshakable among Africans that tomorrow will be better than today and that is the kind of infectious confidence in which investments thrive. Many African governments are now embracing the right reforms and economic restructuring, building the right institutions, growing resilient economies and making the right policy choices, including diversifying their economies away from oil earnings, gas and mining to the massive job-creating promise held by agriculture and small and medium-size enterprise and business creation. The global economy is to gain greatly from high-performing Africa that can be the next global growth pole and its next market. Global prosperity will expand if Africa grows and prospers. The message to any company or investor still not in Africa is that today is the day that business in Africa is made and it might already be too late tomorrow. Africa is the now, no longer the future.  The Africa train has already left the station. You are either on it or you risk becoming irrelevant. The time to get into Africa is now.

Only a quarter of Africans have access to the Internet, but the region is seeing the strongest growth, according to latest statistics. For the first time, more than half of the world’s population is now using the Internet  and it is estimated  that 51.2% of the global population, or 3.9 billion people, are now connected to the Internet. However, the strongest growth is reported in Africa, where the percentage of people using the Internet increased from just 2.1% in 2005 to over 25% in 2019. In 2019, more people in Africa accessed the internet than did in Latin America, North America, or the Middle East. There were 525 million internet users in Africa, 447 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 328 million in North America, and 174 million in the Middle East. One out of five African internet users is believed to come from Nigeria which has an internet population of 112 million. This is probably because this West African country has one of the cheapest mobile data prices on the continent. A recent study ranked Nigeria as the 11th African nation with an average price of $2.22 for 1 Gigabyte (GB). Out of 57 African nations, Rwanda came out on the top with the cheapest average price of $0.56 for 1 GB data. It takes an average of over seven hours to download a five-gigabyte file in HD in Nigeria and only eight minutes to download the same file in Taiwan. It is no surprise that Nigeria’s internet download speed is ranked 176th out of the 207 countries measured globally. Overall, there is only one African country on the list of the top 50 fastest-performing countries and 25 on the list of the world’s 50 slowest-performing nations. Clearly, Africa may have rapid internet growth but it still has a long way to go when it comes to speed. About 40 percent of all Africans are now online, but usage varies from country to country. In Kenya it was 83 percent; in South Africa, 56 percent; and in Nigeria, 60 percent. However, Nigeria is so much bigger in population than any other African country, its citizens comprised about 20 percent of all African internet users. Though Africa is behind only Asia and Europe in the absolute number of internet users, it lags behind every other region in the proportion of internet users.  The good news, simply put, is that 40 percent of all Africans have access of some sort to the internet. On a continent in which, by and large, newspapers are expensive, telephone landlines are underdeveloped, authoritarian governments seek to manipulate the media, and most people have traditionally received news from the radio, often broadcasting in local languages, the internet provides access to a new and much bigger world. The downside, of course, is that the internet is unfiltered, with both wisdom and garbage. There are also fewer ways to verify internet stories than in other parts of the world where other forms of media are more developed. Internet penetration in Africa is likely to grow at a faster rate than elsewhere in the world, and the fact that there are already more than half a billion internet users in Africa raises the possibility of a greater number of profound social, political, and economic changes. Internet usage may be a sign that the African giant is awakening.  More than 90% of the population in Sub Saharan Africa was covered by 2G networks at the end of 2017 and six new 4G networks launched in the first half of 2018. As such, GSMA estimates that there are presently 120 such networks in the region and they state that these new networks combined with the market of cheaper smartphones help drive the transition to mobile broadband in this region. Future projections are that 3G will account for 60% of all mobile connections by 2025. Smartphone and mobile Internet usage have, and will continue to, grow all across the globe. With smartphones being the primary source of connection to the Internet globally, the necessity of the devices will only become more demanding in years to come. In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are populations that are farther along in their adoption process than others, yet the process is moving rapidly. Africa is definitely a region to watch as the race to increase global mobile Internet penetration continues, especially as the youth in Africa come-of-age.

Africa is a highly resourceful continent with a great return on investments if you can be able to strategise and tap into the huge market. With a population that is almost equal to 1 billion people, your market cannot be bigger. The problem, however, being faced by a lot of people is knowing the right African business idea to invest in. It may be a bit more challenging for those who may not fully understand the African market to invest in but one thing that is more than certain is the huge opportunities the black continent offers to potential investors and marketers. We bring you some ideas you may want to consider if you want to do business in Africa Agricultural Support Platforms Africa is well-known for agriculture as most of the countries therein largely depend on agriculture as the major source of income and foreign exchange and any investment in this sector with a technological backbone has the potential to scale up and become highly profitable. Have a mobile food service that allows you move your restaurant to serve breakfast, lunch, snacks, sandwich and casual drink close to workers or a technological platform that allows you identify food availability. Investments in Banking and Financial Services Africa is currently perceived as a new land of opportunity by the world. The current fight for access to Africa by the west and the Chinese buttress this fact. Stocks in African companies are now seeing better investments from expatriates living in Africa are now better off investing their money in African banks or companies’ stocks than into their own banks and economies. Creating tools and services for this community to provide investment advice and personal financial planners to intending investors and those willing to learn the African market. This opportunity could be packaged in the form of a confidential investment newsletter, market research agency, investment boutique, index fund, index tracker agency. E-libraries and e-books study platforms for students The trend towards digital library is soon going to envelop the black continent. Africa will soon by-pass the area of huge physical libraries which require a lot of funding, logistics, and infrastructure and go directly to digital libraries where students and citizens could access millions of books and materials through mobile devices and tablets. Smart entrepreneurs may want to explore this opportunity to negotiate the deals, clear the path of adoption and build the necessary platforms that will support this revolution and start off a new trend of business in Africa. Investments in Housing Africa has a huge housing problem in all its urban areas especially as most people rather go to live in urban areas than in the rural areas. The government is overwhelmed by housing projects and integration with private investors in this area will meet the need of a lot of people who in return, will drop their cash. Field Data Collection Services If there is anything that lacks in Africa, it is access to valuable data. Independent projects monitoring and translating data is one of the sectors that is completely naive in Africa. To enable the international community fund their project adequately, they need access to such valuable and raw data. Currently, this job is done by hiring huge consulting firm in Europe and the west which spend a lot of money subcontracting it out to other smaller firms to gather and organise their data. An African company that will specialise in field services and data collection will be able to fill this gap and become a valuable resource to the international community. Procurement and Logistics Most African countries still lack a reliable and large-scale procurement outsourcing services providers in front a huge and growing demand either by local entrepreneurs, and administration or by international organisations, this presents a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs interested in procurement and logistics sector. This sector offers an amazing platform to serve the ever growing need to supply work equipment and bridge the gap between technologies in Africa. Energy Sector Here comes one of the biggest challenges faced in Africa. The secret of making profits is by providing the services that meet the needs of people and in return, they offer you money and if your price is competitively low, you have a lot of subscribers and you make more money. The energy sector is one sector that is promising. Any capitalised company with interest in African energy sector with the right connections would be able to break new ground. E-commerce E-commerce in Africa is still at its infant stage. While the biggest challenge faced by this sector is online fraud, anyone who comes out with a way to sanitise or limit the risks within the online environment will be able to reap the benefits of this huge market. A ready and customer-friendly service will help gain some trust for anyone trying to venture into this field. Intellectual Property and Patents Protection Services As seen in the developed countries, African businesses will gradually start to pay close attention to their brands and Intellectual Properties (IP). There would be a need for IP companies to structure the groundwork for monitoring and identifying breaches and taking actions against IP offenders. e-government or Mobile-Government The social media, internet, and mobile technology serve as a great empowerment tool in the hands of a concerned government. Building a platform that allows government-citizen interaction with a rating and shared ideas on implementation will go a long way in bringing about a transparent government and of course with proper backing and monetization strategies, a good return on your investment. These are a just a few of the business ideas that would work in Africa when pursued from the right angle. This too is an opportunity that is waiting to be tapped.

With the imminent ablishment of trade barriers under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Ghana is poised to overtake Nigeria by becoming a gateway to the rest of West Africa, and a market leader in new car sales. The government of Ghana is also offering 10-year tax breaks to the automotive manufacturing industry in a bid to make Ghana the regional hub for car assembly and boost car sales in the local and regional markets. And a lot of international car makers are considering Ghana government’s invitation very seriously. Toyota, for instance, is aiming to collect 30% of the corporation’s total annual revenue, currently at $60b illion, from Africa in coming 20 years. Industry  experts forecast that Africa will account for one-third of the world’s population by 2050, up from 17% now. Africa currently accounts for less than 1% of global annual new car sales. However, Toyota and other manufacturers will find it tough to immediately find a large consumer base in Ghana given the dominance of the used vehicle market. On the other hand, industry experts predict that new vehicle registrations in Ghana are expected to expand at an average annual rate of just 1.5% from 2019-28. On the other hand, retail and consumer spending is expected to grow in Ghana, which is benefiting from two decades of stable democratic government, making Ghana one of the fastest growing economies in the world in 2019, and a pro-business regime proactively attracting foreign investment. Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region, has long been a base for the automotive trade, serving the markets of landlocked neighbouring countries to the north as well as an access point for the important markets of Mali and Burkina Faso. Given the promise in the market, it is not just international giants that are looking to gain a foothold. Local electric car manufacturer Kantanka is hoping to capitalise on changing consumer patterns amid growing international concern over carbon emissions. CEO Kwadwo Safo Jnr has said the firm will build electric cars that can travel between Accra and Kumasi without recharging. The business has already received orders from the trade and agricultural ministries. With moves to encourage electric vehicles in Europe and North America, and sales in China growing to 1.4 million in 2019, the market could develop in tandem with a demand for traditional vehicles.  

Google will launch Shopping Ads in Nigeria to make it easier and faster for shoppers to find and purchase products online, while also improving their transaction experiences. “We are excited to be launching Shopping ads in Nigeria. Shopping ads include photos and prices to help consumers find the products they are looking for and enable advertisers to reach consumers who are looking to buy,” reads a statement by the Industry Manager, Google West Africa, Adim Isiakpona. Google claims that through Shopping ads, online shoppers will be given a range of product alternatives to choose from and also an opportunity to make informed decisions. Additionally, shoppers will not just see text ads as they search for products, they will also see photos of the product, price, the title and store name, reviews, and more. Google Shopping ads, now available in 94 countries, enables merchants to work with Comparison Shopping Services (CSS) – a website that gathers product offers from online retailers and sends users to the retailers’ websites to make a purchase – to advertise their products. On Google Shopping ads, Google stated that support is made available for advertisers to list their products in multiple languages, while for those who sell and ship products to multiple countries, their product prices will be automatically displayed in the local currency. To create a Google Shopping ad, you’ll need to send Google your product data through the Merchant Center and then create a campaign in Google Ads. This campaign will be used to create ads on Google and around the web where potential customers can see the products you are selling. Google Shopping ads will use your existing Merchant Center product data, not the keywords, to decide how and where to show your ads. It will use the data of the product you submitted when signing up to the Merchant Center to match a user’s search to your ads, making sure it shows the most relevant products. With the impact of smartphone penetration on online commerce in Nigeria, social media/tech platforms are continually looking for more preferable solutions to dominate the mobile market. Africa Business Pages: Promoting Trade To And From Africa Africa Business Pages, the leading B2B portal, has also introduced a dedicated Online Store which showcases products offered by its advertisers. This enables African buyers to reach out to suppliers and wholesalers and request for a free quotation. The Online Store at Africa Business Pages promotes wholesale trade to Africa and enables African buyers to search for compare prices of various products before making a purchase.  

Nigerian-based medical logistics startup, LifeBank will be adding drone delivery to its methods of transportation. The company is the first African-led company to implement Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) flights for healthcare logistics. Unlike Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) flights where the pilot has to see their unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones at every time, for BVLOS, drones can go beyond the sight of the pilot without human interference. This means more reach into remote and previously inaccessible areas. The service will deliver packages up to five pounds in 30 minutes or less using small drones. The drones will be built with multiple redundancies, as well as sophisticated “sense and avoid” technology although the look and characteristics of the drones will continue to evolve over time. San Francisco-based drone manufacturer and logistics company, Zipline had earlier launched a similar programme in Ghana and Rwanda for delivery of medical services. According to LifeBank, the first drone flight was supported by the Ethiopian Government’s Information Network Security Agency (INSA) and The Drones Doing Good Alliance (DDG). LifeBank will work closely with regulators and industry to design an air traffic management system that will recognise who is flying what drone, where they are flying, and whether they are adhering to operating requirements. LifeBank was the biggest winner among 10 African startups that won a total of $1 million at the grand finale of first Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) in Accra recently. Other African countries and industries are set to follow as drone technology becomes popular in Africa. Drones can play a useful role in reaching remote areas in the African continent.

The Ugandan government recently launched a mobile phone and computer manufacturing plant in the Namanve Industrial Park. Heralded as a turning point in positive foreign direct investment, this move would also drastically reduce the cost of importation of technology and ensure job creation opportunities for Ugandans. The factory built by Chinese Electronics firm ENGO Holdings Limited will produce 2,000 mobile phones, 1,500 Smart phones and 800 mini slim laptops every day when it starts operating at full capacity in 2021. The phone models with dual SIM slots and a Memory card will collectively be known as S300 powered 1,400mAh capacity battery. They are enabled with JAVA for playing MP3/MP4 Audio-Visual files. They receive telecommunications signal using 2GSM and GPRS operating on two bandwidths in the range of 850 -1900. Ares Chow Yu Qing, the Executive Director of ENGO Holdings Limited says that the factory will in the future produce 2,000 chargers, 4,000 USB cables and 4,000 ear phones in the third phase of the development of the factory in October 2021. ENGO Holdings Limited is investing USD 15 million in phases over a period of five years to achieve optimal output from the initial one million electronic gadgets a year.  Most of the parts currently being assembled were imported from China including mainboards, the 2.4 Inch screen, touch panels, battery, Cameras, speaker receivers and vibrators. The factory is expected to reduce the import bill by producing cheap phones for the East African nation. Financial investments from the Chinese is something that President Museveni encourages. In his speech at the launch of the manufacturing plant, the president stated that he believes the Chinese investors to be “very serious partners because they understand the importance of infrastructure,” and that he is “very happy” with their investments in the country. With plans to use the products manufactured in the government  departments itself and even impose importation taxes on similar products brought into the country, it is obvious that Museveni will be taking the necessary steps to ensure that the products assembled in the factory are used

Garanba Bottling, a subsidiary of B&C Aluminum Plc that bottles South Spring Water in Ethiopia, has signed a deal with a UK-based company to export US$1m worth of bottled water to the United Kingdom. Garanba Bottling was established with an investment of US$12.5million in Aregobena Wereda of Sidama Zone. It operates with 310 employees and has the capacity to produce 16,000 bottles of water an hour. According to media reports, Garanga Botting will export 1,200 tonnes of bottled water as a trial before regular shipments are scheduled. The first shipment will take five 20-foot container load, which will constitute one million bottles. South Spring Water will mainly be delivered in 0.6 litre and 1.2 litre bottles. Before inking the deal, the two parties completed the testing and sampling process, which took close to three months. “Following the first round, we’ll seal a long-term agreement to ship 50 containers a month,” said Berhanu Getahun, board chairperson of Garanba Bottling. According to Berhanu, Garanba Bottling has also been negotiating with buyers for close to two months to start exporting its products to Saudi Arabia. “We’ve sent a sample to the company and currently we are working on the contract agreement,” he revealed. To encourage the export of bottled water, the Ethiopian Bottled Water, Soft Drink, Fruit & Vegetable Processing Manufacturing Industries Association (EBFSMIA) has sent a letter to the business diplomacy directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the export of bottled water to neighbouring countries. Ethiopia is known by the water resources it possesses that provided it the nick name The Water Tower of Africa. Foreign investors and entrepreneurs are lining up to take advantage of this business opportunity by setting up water bottling plants across Ethiopia. As a result, foreign investments in bottling drinking water and mineral water bottling plnats has risen from six factories in 2011 to 97 in the beginning of the 2020. All these plants are producing around 100 milliliters of water per head per day when their total production is divided to the total number of population, which is estimated to 10 million USD according to some studies. Recently, a Turkish company has invested $6.5 million in Ethiopia to set up and bottled water plant. Avante Water, owned by the General Group Beverages (GGB), inaugurated its bottled water brand at a ceremony held in capital Addis Ababa. The factory sits on 4,700 square meters factory complex situated 110 kilometers north of the capital. The plant has three production lines including blowing, filling and packaging. It has a capacity of producing 30,000 liters of water an hour. The company uses the lightest plastic for the bottle which makes it compressible so it takes less space in the trashcan contributing to a cleaner environment. Origin Water, bottled by Origin Food & Beverage Factory located in Oromia Regional State, has been exporting bottled water since last year with Djibouti as its main destination. Since embarking upon the export of bottled water, Origin Water has shipped a total of 1.2 million tonnes of product, worth an estimated US$7 million. “Currently, there are some gaps in our export venture to the neighbouring country due to foreign exchange problems that limited us from importing more machinery to increase our production,” said Haymanot Anbesse, quality control manager of Origin Water. Currently, there are close to 97 bottlers operational in Ethiopia, with a total registered capital of $92.1 millions. The increasing competitiveness of the thriving industry compels the bottlers to stretch their reach to foreign countries.

The Middle East and Africa region will witness the largest show in the amusement industry – DEAL 2020, to provide an effective platform for the stakeholders within the African entertainment and amusement sector. Over 300 plus exhibitors will be present at the 26th edition of the DEAL 2020 Show (Dubai Entertainment and Leisure), from across 35 plus countries. Global industry exhibition, DEAL will be held between 23rd and 25th March 2020, and will showcarse a wide spectrum of VR concepts that is specifically catering to the African markets.  DEAL 2020 will host 300 plus exhibitors from across the globe. There are several global and regional brands at the show that includes – Amusement Services International, Warehouse of Games, Al Hokair, Semnox, Intercard, Zamperla, Embed, Sacoa, ICE, UDC, Polin Waterparks, ProSlide, Whitewater, HPS Play, SBF-VISA, Guzzi Eugenio, IE Park, I-TPS, Mammamia Rides and QubicaAMF Worldwide among several others.  Furthermore, the African trade visitors can also meet close 50 plus new exhibitors. “Apart from the other country pavilions, this year DEAL will host companies under the ‘Korea Pavilion’ for the very first time. Korea Creative Content Authority (KOCCA), a government agency which promotes the Korean content industry will be instrumental in bringing some of the best Korean FEC and entertainment companies. Trade visitors from Africa can expect a plethora of creative VR concepts from the Korean brands at its country pavilion during the DEAL 2020 show,” stated Sharif Rahman, CEO of International Expo Consults (IEC), organisers of DEAL 2020. Africa will witness the launch of new retail entertainment hubs and malls in the next couple of years where more global brands will find more space and better infrastructure. It adds that the continent is home to 45 million households having what it terms as ‘discretionary income’. With the new malls attracting brands that were only known through cable television, Forbes Magazine says the African market can no longer be viewed as a secondary one. DEAL 2020 is the region’s most important meeting point since its inception for manufacturers, suppliers, buyers, entrepreneurs, businessmen, technologists, and professionals in the leisure, FEC and amusement industries.  Apart from the VR gaming concepts there is a massive representation from other sectors such as arcade, redemption, card machines, rides, water fountains, soft toys, coin machines, gifts, souvenirs, bowling, character costumes, theming services, interactive sports, revenue management systems,  inflatables, laser tag, photobooth, snow park, water park, trains, vending machines, trampolines among other entertainment concepts. Africa’s VR (virtual reality) gaming space is taking shape with several malls in the country looking to house the best in the VR gaming industry. The VR concept is increasing the business value of the malls with the help of this new disruptive technology. Virtual reality gaming refers to applications where a person can experience being in a three-dimensional (3-D) environment and interact with it during a game. Virtual reality (VR) environments help the user in experiencing the game as reality. “So, as an African entertainment industry stakeholder, trade visitors can attend dedicated conferences to gain knowledge and industry’s wealth of experience and get a hands-on technology experience at its innovative best. They can implement the same back in the country post networking with industry leaders, and also develop a profitable business relationship at the same time,” added Rahman. Middle East and North Africa Leisure & Attractions Council (MENALAC), a non-profit Trade Council representing the leisure and attractions will be addressing the industry’s growth parameters, as it will be hosting a power-packed conference that will feature experts from the industry. These industry experts will share their best practices from across the globe with the trade visitors from Africa. “DEAL has been steadily gaining popularity on all fronts as the African amusement sector stands to benefit immensely from this show. The future looks promising for the African amusement sector which has reported a steady growth on the revenue forefront. Africa has been growing in terms of tourism and infrastructure. We have full faith that we are going in the right path and are confident that the amusement industry in Africa will yield 100 percent results. We are quite pleased to see new faces from Africa at DEAL each year and are sure that they will get to meet new contacts to expand their business even this year,” said Rahman. African millennials are changing their consumer spending patterns, from markets to malls, where they can eat, socialize and get entertained at Family Entertainment Centers (FEC)s apart from shopping. Also there have been key amusement parks in Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa which have enticed people around the African region.

BolognaFiere Cosmoprof SpA, organizer of Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna, has officially announced that the 2020 edition will be postponed to 11 till 15 June 2020. "The latest news concerning Novel Corona Virus in Italy have forced us to review our positions” - says Gianpiero Calzolari, President of BolognaFiere. – “In agreement with the Regional Government of Emilia Romagna and with the Municipality of Bologna, we have assessed the situation, and postponing the event is currently the most correct solution, to support Italian institutions engaged today in protecting our health". Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna 2020 edition has been postponed to 11 till 15 June 2020 "The decision to postpone the event from 11 to 15 June is a further evidence of our commitment to support the development of the cosmetic industry worldwide” - says Enrico Zannini, General Manager of BolognaFiere Cosmoprof SpA. – “In this way we can offer to the over 3,000 exhibitors of this edition and to the 265,000 operators attending our exhibition every year a high-quality business event, as in the tradition of Cosmoprof. I would like to thank our exhibitors and our partners for their understanding in the latest weeks, due to the complicated scenario in which we are involved. Thanks to the collaboration of the entire industry, our event in June will be a key moment for our sector". "Cosmetica Italia is working together with its historic partner, BolognaFiere Cosmoprof, sharing the decision to postpone the fair to ensure maximum health and safety conditions for operators and visitors to the event” – says Renato Ancorotti, President of Cosmetica Italia - Italian association of cosmetic companies. – “Our goal is to be side by side on the occasion of the new appointment, to reconfirm the excellence of the Italian cosmetic industry, recognized all over the world and reacting positively even in contexts of uncertainty." The 2020 program and special initiatives will not undergo substantial changes. In particular, the activities outlined in recent months are guaranteed to optimize the business opportunities of the operators attending the event in Bologna.