A creator of world-class experiential environments for events, tradeshows and exhibits, Hargrove Inc. served as the general contractor for the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). This global event occurred July 25-26 in Nairobi, Kenya, and attracted entrepreneurs and mentors as well as government and business leaders.
“Hargrove has had the privilege of executing numerous national and global summits as the designer and general contractor, and we are honored by each opportunity,” said Ron Bracco, vice president, events. “We are especially excited to expand our event destination experience to Africa, and we are proud to develop such high-visibility environments and present our nation to leaders and diplomats around the world.”
As the general contractor for the summit, Hargrove was responsible for researching, selecting and managing local vendors and suppliers in Nairobi; as well as providing technical expertise, advice and mentoring to the burgeoning event industry in the growing African market. By assessing and working closely with these local partners, we helped develop strong ties and new resources in the Kenyan economy, all while ensuring Hargrove-quality was executed in every detail involved with this Summit.
President Obama and the U.S. Government started this event six years ago in support of entrepreneurship around the world. Growing each year since 2010, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit joins together government leaders, business frontrunners and entrepreneurs of all levels. Previous hosts of the Summit include the governments of the United States, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Morocco, with this most recent GES Summit hosted in Nairobi, Kenya.
Our first event in Nairobi, Hargrove provided a full range of services for this Summit. Beginning with the logo development, Hargrove designed each décor element to be distinctive, yet consistent throughout every lounge, stage set and meeting room—all on a remarkably tight schedule.
Hargrove designed and developed the logo and all corresponding variations used at the Summit and on Summit materials. In addition to logo development, Hargrove provided the design and fabrication of many Summit elements to ensure a cohesive brand throughout every lounge and every meeting room. The designers sought to create an environment that fostered creativity, new ideas and entrepreneurship. From the arrival entrance to the large innovation hall to the intimate interview rooms, the overall look and feel incorporated bright colors and bold patterns.
Some of the environmental elements included stage sets in the main plenary, seating arrangements and food and beverage stations in the lunch and lounge areas and column wraps lining the perimeter of the arrival area. Additional rooms were used to facilitate break-out discussions, workshops and the pitching of ideas, and each featured banners and signage throughout.
“We had less than four months to complete this Summit from beginning to end,” said Tim McGill, CEO, Hargrove. “Not to mention the challenges presented by the distance and time difference. However, the experience, knowledge and professionalism provided by each department and every member of our team is what allowed us to successfully produce this prestigious event.”
