GenevaLunch will be at Expat-Expo, table J9, where you can view our fresh new site and learn more about the Lake Geneva region's online community newspaper!

Transparence SA, a Geneva-based company founded in 2007 by Veerle Vanwauwe to promote clean gold through its online retail platform, transparencedesign.com, was  named by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) in July as one of its Women Environmental Entrepreneurs. She was invited to participate in its world congress in Barcelona, Spain this week but Vanwauwe returns home in time to join Expat-Expo as one of its newcomer exhibitors. [Ed. note: See Vanwauwe interview in GL, "Real hope diamonds are traceable"]

Expat-Expo is in its third year in Geneva and while the newness of a fair aimed at the Lake Geneva area’s English-speaking population has worn off, the interest has not.

A host of new exhibitors this year offers good browsing, even for people who have attended before: from whisky and cheese to clean gold and psychotherapy. Some companies, such as the Cheese Club, have exhibited at one of the other three fairs owned by Ed and Melanie McGaugh.

Veerle Vanwauwe

Transparence’s Vanwauwe says she’s decided to join the 200 other exhibitors at Expat-Expo “to meet talented people arriving in Geneva, and this might generate interest in joining me to fight the cause for clean gold. We have made a lot of progress, but we need people to help us connect with the industry players, international organizations and civil society in Switzerland.”

She adds that it is also an opportunity “for consumers to see a few of our pieces and learn that a jewel from Transparence represents more than just a jewel.”

Transparence, like the Whisky Experience and the Cheese Club, offers consumers products and in that sense Expat-Expo offers visitors a kind of trade fair. One of its specialties, however, is that many of the exhibitors offers services, and they participate to introduce the public to their services but also to find out what people want and need.

David Schiesher, for example, is a psychotherapist who spent time at Expat-Expo in 2007, but as a visitor. “For me as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist, Expat-Expo is all about professional networking. Last year was my first year in attendence. I had just opened my practice the year before and was feeling a strong need to connect with other therapists working in English. Because of the colleagues whom I met last year, I formed a practitioner’s group of colleagues who continue to meet once a month to support and encourage each other in our work. It has made a world of difference for me. Four of us are currently looking to open a cabinet together. This year, I will be an exhibitor in hopes of continuing to make valuable connections within the expat community.” [Ed. note: Schiesher occasionally contributes posts as a guest blogger on GenevaLunch]

Photo: Howard Brundrett

Networking is the reason that the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce (BSCC) has a table for 2008. Richard Baker of the BSCC says he became aware of Expat-Expo through the Cheese Club, a member company based in Eastern Switzerland which had exhibited at Expat-Expo in Zurich and ran out of cheese because of the number of visitors. “We get out and meet people all the time, of course – we do this with our own events – but this is a way to do it in a different environment. People say it’s a family fair, and our members have families. We also want to support our members; about a dozen will be there.”

More specifically, the BSCC is there as part of the launch of its new online members directory, which can be used by anyone, not just members.

Expat-Expo is Sunday 12 October at Palexpo, hall 7 (airport side) in Geneva. Doors open at 11:00 and close at 17:00. Entry is free, and there is plenty for children to do, including a bouncy castle.

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