Africa-Press – Lesotho. Local and Foreign exhibitors once again showcased their offerings at the annual Standard Lesotho Bank (SLB) car and home expo on Saturday. Standard Lesotho Bank Acting Head of Marketing Manyathela Kheleli said the expo; an
initiative which commenced 8 years ago, is a collaborative annual event by SLB, car dealers and property developers. He said the expo is always hosted during
the festive season as it is the time of year that people celebrate their achievements and hard work and also pamper themselves. “We only have two car dealers in the country, Maseru Toyota
and Nissan but during the time of expo we arrange with South African car dealers to also showcase their cars at the expo so that Basotho can get an opportunity to view and test drive them.
It is always better when a person sees the car they want to buy physically as opposed to seeing it on a catalogue,” he added. He said the expo is broad as it accommodates small and medium enterprises as well
as big corporate businesses. Kheleli further mentioned they invited numerous companies which sell houses, construction, hardware and insurance companies to also come and advertise their products.
He said Standard Lesotho Bank aims at making it easier for Basotho businesses to get exposure because most of the businesses which joined the expo are from
Lesotho. “We believe that doing this will also make a great contribution to our country’s economy. He said the bank also finances whatever car or property interests a person if they qualify.
Kheleli further said they have also invited car dealers which sell big trucks because of the ongoing construction of Polihali dam. Contractors involved, he said, are likely to buy such trucks.
Maseru Toyota Sales Executive, Mohasi Penane said they have benefitted a lot from the expo, adding that Maseru Toyota has a good business relationship with Standard Lesotho
Bank and therefore have always deemed it important to support them in all ways possible. “Through this expos we are able to sell a lot of cars. For instance, last year around
this time, we sold so many that we even ran out of stock and had to extend delivery time to the following year,” he noted. LEFmot Construction Salesman Patrick Lerata said they have a long term relationship
with Standard Lesotho Bank as most of their customers are also the bank’s customers. He said the bank finances them when they want to buy or build property
so they felt it necessary to become part of the expo as a way of exposing their construction company to even more clients. “We sell and build houses. We also
sell building materials at affordable prices for Basotho so that they can have comfortable homes,” he said, adding that, joining the expo has truly worked in their favour as each year they register large numbers of people who want their services.
