Hello, I'm Inoue, an executive officer.
Last week, from October 17th to 20th, we exhibited at the "J-Startup Pavilion" at "GITEX Future Stars 2021," the largest IT exhibition in the Middle East and Africa, held in Dubai, UAE.
This year, I'll be participating along with the CEO of our company's Egypt office!

Dubai is rapidly growing as an innovation hub thanks to the strong efforts of the UAE government.
It is attracting attention as a venue for new technologies and large-scale demonstration tests, as well as an entry point for business in the Middle East and Africa.
The Dubai International Expo (Dubai World Expo), the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa, which began on October 1st, has been frequently featured in the news and is generating a lot of buzz in Japan!

GITEX, which was held in parallel with the Dubai Expo which had been postponed for a year due to the impact of the coronavirus, typically attracts more than 60 countries, over 700 companies, and more than 400 investors to fields such as artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud computing, cybersecurity, blockchain, and fintech.
This time, we participated in the "J-Startup Pavilion" exhibited by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) as one of approximately 20 Japanese startups.

We also participated in GITEX two years ago in 2019 as one of the companies in the "J-Startup Pavilion," but this time we are participating with a significantly upgraded range of products and services compared to two years ago.
Despite concerns about the number of participants due to the impact of the coronavirus, the attendance was about the same as in previous years. As with the previous event, it seemed that a very large proportion, about 90%, were investors aiming to invest in startups and IT companies coming to learn about new technologies.

Throughout these four days, I realized that there is a high demand for Japanese products in the UAE, and that Japanese brands are more well-established there compared to Africa.
Africa definitely has a bright future ahead!
In Dubai, which is attracting attention as a hub in Africa, I was able to meet many people, including companies that could become my partners. I will continue to work hard to further expand my business not only in Nigeria but also in other African countries, so that I can contribute to promoting innovation in Africa and improving the productivity and efficiency of industries.

I've now moved from Dubai and am in South Africa!
We will be rapidly expanding our business in South Africa as well.

Well then, I'll share my business trip report – South Africa edition – next time.

▶GITEX Official Website

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Shiba NA Building 4F, 3-6-10 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0014
STANDAGE Co., Ltd.
President and CEO: Akinori Adachi
Executive Vice President/COO: Kenta Omori
Press Contact Email: info@standage.org