The leader in Ukraine's exhibition industry is almost as old as Ukrainian independence
Euroindex - one of Ukraine's leading exhibition companies - has celebrated its 15th birthday. Today, the company occupies the No. 1 position in Ukraine in the b2b trade shows segment, and second place in Ukraine's exhibition industry as a whole.
Euroindex Ltd. was founded in 1992 - the era of the first market reforms in Ukraine, and also the beginnings of the Ukrainian exhibition industry. The company began with publication of professional magazines and books, having identified a market niche indicating the need for marketing services in the high-tech industry. By 1993, the idea of carrying out hi-tech trade shows began to be developed. The first such trade show - EnterEX - took place at the beginning of 1994, and the next in the fall, and by 1995, Euroindex had transformed itself into a professional exhibition company.
By actively learning from foreign experience and modern exhibition technologies, Euroindex has achieved the leading position among Ukraine's exhibition companies in the area of b2b trade shows. Today, on Euroindex's exhibition calendar, there are 20 specialized projects, most of which are leaders in their industries. The company is well-known to Ukrainian specialists for such brand names as EnterEX - information technology, MaRHo - equipment for supermarkets and restaurants, REX - advertising, marketing and the mass media, elcomUkraine - power engineering, electrical engineering, and energy-efficiency, as well as BEZPEKA, and Industrial Cold, which are some of the largest trade shows in Eastern Europe in their respective industries.
In 2006, Euroindex's trade shows attracted a combined total of 1,749 exhibiting companies from 24 countries, and approximately 100,000 visiting specialists from all over Ukraine. The net exhibition space of last year's trade shows totaled 35,160 sq. m. In all, over the time of its presence in the market, the company has organized and carried out 122 trade shows with total net space of 206,000 sq. m, where 10,500 companies have exhibited, and almost 1.3 million visitors have attended.
Euroindex's membership of authoritative international organizations - the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) and the CENTREX international exhibition union - testifies to the company's international recognition and compliance to the high standards of the global exhibition industry.
Euroindex can rightly be described as a catalyst for the development, and a pioneer, of the domestic exhibition industry. The company participated in the development of an industry association (the Exhibition Federation of Ukraine) from the very beginning, and was one of those that initiated the construction of the leading exhibition center in Ukraine, KyivExpoPlaza. Euroindex also actively participates in the development of the exhibition industry's legal framework and the fight against unfair competition in the market.
Euroindex was the first in Ukraine to:
- carry out an independent audit of statistical data from its trade shows (number of exhibitors and visitors, and net exhibition space), providing exhibitors and visitors with objective and trustworthy data, enabling them to realistically evaluate the marketing opportunities offered by its events. Auditing of data is carried out in accordance with the methodology of the CENTREX international exhibition union, by BDO Balance-Audit international auditing company.
- introduce innovative IT and marketing solutions into the exhibition industry. Euroindex was the first to introduce an integrated information system for exhibition management, and an automated system for registration of visitors, as well as many other solutions.
- provide a whole range of services free-of-charge: online ordering of invitations, exhibition catalogues given to all visitors and unrestricted access to the catalogue information on the Internet, an express shuttle-bus service, city phone lines, recreation areas for visitors at trade shows, educational programs for exhibitors, reports for exhibitors after trade shows with information on the structure of the audience of visitors. These and other services have today become a de facto standard in the Ukrainian exhibition industry.
- carry out seminars for exhibitors, entitled Effective Participation in a Exhibition, in which approximately 250 people have already taken part, from enterprises in various sectors of the economy.
One more step forward, made first by Euroindex in the exhibition market, is certification of a quality control system complying with the ISO 9001:2000 standard. The certificate obtained, which is recognized in European countries, and in the world in general, confirms the compliance of the quality control system for services provided by the company in the sphere of organizing exhibitions, trade fairs, and conferences with the ISO 9001:2000 international standard, and guarantees exhibitors and visitors a high level of effectiveness of the trade shows carried out by Euroindex.
Today, Euroindex Ltd. has also become firmly established as one of the leading knowledge centers in the exhibition industry, not only in Ukraine, but also in the whole of the CIS. On the company's website (www.euroindex.ua) is an information resource unique for Ukraine (called Infocenter), and a glossary of exhibition terminology is also available there, as well as articles on the theory and practice of the exhibition business, and useful links to information resources. The company's leading specialists are constantly in demand as experts when preparing publications on the exhibition industry, and they also give lectures on the exhibition business at institutions of higher education. Based on its experience of building KyivExpoPlaza exhibition center, Euroindex provides consulting assistance to regional companies requiring construction or expansion of exhibition space.
Working in fast growing economic sectors, Euroindex constantly focuses on questions of social importance. For example, the international trade show of power engineering and electrical engineering, elcomUkraine, has in recent years emphasized energy-efficiency and energy-saving. The trade show of advertising, marketing, and the mass media, REX, constantly draws attention to issues concerning society in general (public relations), meaning that the trade show assists in promoting the best achievements of socially-responsible business in Ukraine.
Euroindex Ltd. attempts to develop not only large trade shows for the leading industries of the national economy, but also small specialized projects of significant social importance. For example, the aim of the Inventions and Innovations trade show is to draw the attention of the government, entrepreneurs, and society to the problems of innovative management, attracting investment to applied science and inventions, and developing national innovation programs. The Health of the Nation trade show is aimed at finding solutions to priority issues for Ukraine of improving the health of the Ukrainian population, of making the workforce more productive, and of increasing the average life expectancy in the country. The Franchising trade show has assisted thousands of people in making the first step towards setting up their own business.
Euroindex's high level of performance has been achieved through the hard work of its team of more than 90 professionals, many of who can rightly be called the best in the exhibition industry as well as by modern technologies which neither other exhibition companies in Ukraine, nor colleagues in neighboring countries, possess.
Today, Euroindex has set itself new objectives.
"Our main aim in the medium term is to bring Kyiv up to the level of one of the exhibition capitals of Eastern Europe in those industries where Ukraine is a major producer in this region. We think that the scientific and industrial potential of Ukraine combined with its transit location and unique openness offers a very good opportunity for the country. Apart from this, we constantly keep a look out for the emergence of new markets, and try to assist in their development by setting up new exhibition projects"
remarked Valerii Pekar, President of Euroindex Ltd.