African Plans for ESOMAR

ESOMAR's 2006 qualitative conference will be held in South Africa, it was announced at the 2005 conference held this week in Barcelona. The organisation has other plans for regional conferences across the continent to meet the needs of the growing number of African MR companies.

ESOMAR Secretary General, Véronique Jeannin made the surprising - but highly appreciated - announcement, stating that the venue will be in a central Cape Town location.

Apart from one conference in Egypt, which Jeannin firmly claims belongs to the Middle East, no other ESOMAR congress or conference has ever been held in Africa.

Jeannin claims this is just the start of ESOMAR's increased presence in the continent: 'Africa is very large and different from part to part. Our aim is to arrange regional conferences in different parts of the continent, for example in Kenya and North Africa. The number of market research companies is growing in Africa, and we have noticed a great interest in learning more about our profession.'

According to Ana Alu, ESOMAR's Director of Development and Events, delegates who plan ahead and book early will find cheap air fares, and as the conference will take place in October, it will not clash with the main tourist season, which starts in November.

Thanks to Henrik Hall from Sweden's MR news service SMRN/Resoner (www.resoner.nu ) for details of this announcement.

ESOMAR is online at www.esomar.org.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.