HENOTO IN THE EMIRATES AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Bologna, december 13 2024

Developing business in expanding international markets is a strategic goal for Henoto, a BolognaFiere Group company specialised in temporary architecture and event structures (in the Exhibition, Retail, Contract, Outdoor, Sport Tech areas). Henoto is pursuing this goal by carefully analysing areas of interest in order to assess their potential for growth and, in parallel, by focusing on relationships and building a network of contacts that are essential for finalising successful business plans.

For HENOTO, Emirates and the Middle East are geographical areas of particular interest.

Well ahead of its competitors, the company began to work here, gaining accreditation from local institutions and stakeholders, and partnering with companies (Italian and otherwise) that are interested in expanding their business with the support and expertise of a trusted partner with established relationships, offices and a team of collaborators on the ground.

“Overseas activity is a crucial part of HENOTO’s business”, explains Luca Griggio, CEO of Henoto World Wide. “Our development strategies in international markets, including the Emirates and the Middle East, can be summed up thus, in a way that best expresses our business model: ‘We export, and therefore internationalise, a successful product – the HPS-Henoto Production System technology, the first integrated system for complete process management specifically for the Exhibition event sector – that is the fruit of the Company’s expertise’. Ours is an innovative approach: instead of limiting ourselves to identifying business opportunities in the most attractive markets, we transfer our business philosophy to these markets, identifying organisations that can be transformed into partners that become our operational arm on the ground. Organisations that use our HPS technologies, ensuring quality, high level technology and HENOTO’s sustainable vision. We offer customers our technologies produced on site through partners that we identify through a meticulous selection. In this way we guarantee high level European standards with controlled production that eliminates a substantial portion of the costs, such as those for transport and logistics.

We started working in the Emirates in 2022 and became fully operational in March 2023. Our structure is composed of our premises in Dubai, which includes offices and showrooms for HPS technologies and a team of collaborators. This site is flanked by a series of affiliated offices in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

“Our business model,” continues the CEO, “has enabled us to establish solid territorial relationships that are highly structured and strategic for the consolidation of our local market positioning. Our customers have the opportunity to visit the production sites, to consider various solutions, and to appreciate the quality of the product. Our knowledge of international markets and the consolidated institutional relations established in the area make us a reference partner for initiatives throughout the Henoto World Wide network.

The expertise we have acquired has also prepared us to enter markets that are set to be brimming with business opportunities in the near future, markets such as India, Vietnam, and Africa, where we are already looking with great interest.”

THE EMIRATES SCENARIO

The figures highlight the attractiveness of the Saudi/Middle East area: considering Saudi Arabia alone, it is evident that the development policies undertaken to move away from an oil economy offer significant business opportunities. Data from the country’s General Statistics Authority show that the Kingdom’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 2.8% in the third quarter of 2024 (on an annualised basis). This growth is due to the results from non-oil activities, which expanded by 4.2%.  In 2023 Saudi Arabia’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) reached US$ 1067.58bn (Source: World Bank), accounting for 1.01% of the world economy (Source: World Bank).

Also with reference to the Saudi area, the boost in investment due to the Vision 2030 programme is generating important business opportunities for Italian and foreign companies. The project promotes and finances the construction of industries, infrastructure, residential projects, sustainable mobility, commercial activities, catering, and tourist hospitality facilities with public funds. The programme aims to radically change the face and the economy of the area in an extremely short period of time and envisages, among other things, the creation of about fifteen urban population centres and the transformation of existing ones into smart cities.

Such a dynamic scenario offers important business opportunities that HENOTO has been monitoring, developing its own activities and making its expertise and market knowledge available to companies to enable them to begin operating in this geographical area.

Visit the website >