The inaugural Private Label & Licensing Middle East, the MENA region’s only dedicated event for private label and licensing, concluded with visitors gaining crucial insights into successful branding, and private label brands making inroads in the regional market.

Across the three days of the event, at Dubai World Trade Centre, some of the biggest names in the industry took to the Prime Stage to share their knowledge and experience, including Chupa Chups, Woolworths and Warner Media.

Day three of the tailored knowledge platform began with Ali El Hagar, Commercial Director at American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate Warner Media, providing a ‘licensing 101’ presentation.

“Licensing is already a USD280 billion-dollar industry that is still projected to grow,” Hagar told the audience. “The key to a successful partnership in licensing is finding a partner who is truly invested in the growth of the licensed business and not just the end product.”

On the show floor, private label operator Visaqua, from Lithuania, was one of the many exhibitors to praise the inaugural Private Label and Licensing Middle East as the perfect platform to meet industry needs.

“The show has allowed us to meet with local distributors and buyers and truly understand the potential of the market. The last three days have shown us that there is huge opportunity here and we look forward to building on the early relations we have started already with local and regional entities,” said Visaqua CEO Vytautas Zuzevicius.

Private Label and Licensing Middle East was part of a quartet of food and FMCG-specific trade shows at DWTC from 29 – 31 October, alongside Gulfood Manufacturing, the largest food and beverage processing and packaging event for the Middle East, Asia and Africa; and yummex Middle East and SEAFEX Middle East, a pair of food industry events homing in on confectioneries and seafood, respectively.

Held under the umbrella of the Gulfood power brand, which is preparing to celebrate its 25^th anniversary in 2020, the four trade platforms attracted more than 2,800 collective exhibitors.