BRINGING more than a thousand people to the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston yesterday, the turnout for this year’s first day of the National Baking Company’s trade show, A Jamaican Made Christmas, surpassed last year’s, head of special projects Tiffany Wong has said.

Some 1,200 patrons filled out the popular hotel’s ballroom close to midday yesterday, for the fourth staging of the two-day trade show, which got under way at 10:00 am and ran until 8:00 pm. The expo continues today.

Yesterday, Wong told the Jamaica Observer that there were more than 400 applications for this year’s show compared to 200 last year. One hundred medium-sized manufacturers and entrepreneurs were selected to showcase their products at the event.

“At opening, we had a line outside and within an hour I guarantee we had more people this year than we had last year. I have 100 exhibitors this year. What’s new this year is that we have an author’s corner and, incidentally, it’s all females,” Wong said.

Exhibitors are selected based on their businesses and how unique, but in demand it is. Organisers deliberated for three weeks before deciding on who gets to show off their businesses.

“We try to select people based on a variety of categories. We’ve got complaints over the years to say, ‘You know, you have too much of the same thing’. So we’ve been very cognisant of that. We try to give priority to the good ones in each category and the unique ones with great price point. Some people we turn back because they already have a distribution presence. We try not to give anybody who is too big a space. We’re trying to really expose the small people. We know the struggles for small manufacturers and how much it costs to participate in something like this. It’s hard for them, so I think as a company we recognise that,” Wong said.

This year’s budget, Wong shared, is $12 million.

“…We don’t get anything back. It’s just National’s way of giving back. We really are doing it to help to support the small local manufacturers and artisans. So I think our heart is in the right place with this one. It really does cost a lot, but as a company, our focus is mainly manufacturing and early childhood education,” she said.

National’s Chairman and Managing Director Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson expressed that the trade show is on track to doing very well.

“This came as an idea to try and expose small businesses and the artisans. Put it simply, I try to introduce Jamaicans to Jamaicans or Jamaica to Jamaicans. A lot of these people you didn’t even know they existed. That’s part of it, where people can buy their Christmas presents from Jamaican suppliers,” Hendrickson said.

Sprint star, Ambassador Dr Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, has booked her spot with LadyShelly Beauty Hair Care line.

Fraser-Pryce told the Jamaica Observer that the expo is a good event to attract a diverse customer base for her product.

“Lady Shelly Beauty is thrilled to be here a second time. The expo offers a really good mix of customers for us to promote the hair-care line. The interest is just as great as last year and with our BOGO offer, we are able to move more products as we broaden our customer reach,” she said.

Co-founder of Annilu Fruit Cake Mix Ann-Marie Smith, like Fraser-Pryce, was in her second year at the trade show.

“I must really say thanks to National. This is a great idea. It allows entrepreneurs to come out and show off their products. This gives me the opportunity to let people taste it and know that when you see it in the supermarket what it’s all about,” Smith said.

Jonathan Simpson started Jabbas Pepper Shrimps two years ago because of the love he has for the seafood.

“We’re here at A Jamaican Made Christmas, basically just to increase the brand awareness so that people can know about the product. It’s really one of the greatest pepper shrimp products on the market. Being here is overwhelming. We’re pretty much sold out now. We came here with probably about 70 pounds of shrimp and we thought that that would do us for the day, but that 70 pounds has gone. So we’re hoping to come tomorrow (today) with a lot more shrimp,” Simpson said.

One family visiting from Canada said that they happened upon the trade show and decided to purchase several items.

“It’s really good. Small businesses are being exposed and you can’t do better than that. We are visiting from Canada and we love what we see,” one of the family members said.