The 20th edition of the National Culture Week is currently in full swing in the city of Sya. Several activities are on the program, including the craft and commercial fair held on the SNC site. We were there on the evening of May 2, 2023 to take in the pool of the atmosphere that reigns there.
At the craft and commercial fair of the SNC, it is not only exhibition stands of different products, but also a space reserved for gastronomy. It is the latter that attracts our attention as soon as we enter the site. It must be recognized that marketing is a size to attract customers to their beverage sales stand. The strategy seems to be the same among all the owners of these types of stalls. Indeed, they have posted ”lookouts” at each entrance to the site and the role of the latter is to do everything possible to convince each visitor as soon as he arrives to take up a position in their stand.
This is how you see yourself approaching each time in these terms “good evening uncle, there’s room weh! » What is also pleasant is that they do it with respect, it is already good because as we say ”the client is king”. These traders are all the same right, if we refer to the acquisition prices of the different stands which vary on average from 75,000 FCFA to 400,000 FCFA. Some even cost a million of our francs. You have to make your investment profitable at all costs.
Besides, there are these young people, made up mainly of students who do not hesitate to offer their services to anyone who wants to draw a picture on their face. They use a product similar to chalk and perform the task at 500 FCFA on average. To hear them, the business is lucrative because they get by with at least 15,000 FCFA per day. In this commotion, we must not overlook the parking managers around the SNC site either.
Several hundred motorcycles are kept there per day at the rate of 200 FCFA per motorcycle. Calculated in this way, it is a real profit that the latter make. Their worst enemy is at the same time their friend, which makes them reap gains. It’s about the crowds. It is at this moment that one of the parkers located at the eastern entrance of the site says that it is like playing the lottery. Because, he says, if a single motorcycle in their care gets lost, that’s a problem.
The profits earned will then be used to reimburse the lost motorcycle. “So you see, it’s a risk that we actually take and it’s because of all this that we set the price of parking at 200 FCFA”, he justifies himself. The craft and commercial fair of the SNC is also an animation platform on the side of the gastronomy stands, installed by one of the sponsors. Its main role is to create the atmosphere to keep the customer on site and at the same time promote its products.
Abdoul-Karim Etienne SANON
