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ISSA and Afidamp Create Jointly Owned Global Platform

ISSA and Afidamp FAB, the Italian trade association for cleaning industry manufacturers, have announced a new partnership focused on jointly developing and executing go-to-market opportunities for their members and the industry at-large, on a global scale.

This new collaboration is one step in a larger international expansion strategy for both associations. Under the joint project, ISSA and Afidamp will co-own the existing Pulire family of events, both exhibitions and educational events, as well as develop new options to help connect members and share knowledge across the worldwide cleaning industry.

“ISSA’s goal is to increasingly help our members where they need it, globally, with an expanded set of go-to-market options,” said John Barrett, ISSA Executive Director. “Afidamp FAB’s existing network of Pulire exhibitions and executive Forum events on multiple continents complement ISSA’s growing initiatives and events in complementary countries. We see this as a great opportunity to share expertise between the two organizations to reimagine how the industry can do business on the world stage.”

As part of the agreement, all ISSA members will receive a discount to exhibit at the Pulire Verona exhibition May 21-23, 2019, and all Afidamp FAB members will become members of ISSA and gain access to its full suite of member benefits.

The partnership also plans to develop new projects, such as an expanded series of Forum executive summits on multiple continents. The first of the expanded Forum events will take place later this year, the Pulire America Forum, in Brazil, August 9-10, produced with local partner FACOP (Fundação de Asseio e Conservação do Estado do Paraná). Also under development is a new industry education and certification offering specifically for the Italian market.

“Over the last 15 years, Afidamp has created an international platform, Pulire, aimed to satisfy the cleaning industry’s interest in many developing countries,” said Toni d’Andrea, Executive Director of Afidamp. “Our goal is to open a dialogue among these countries to coordinate actions, qualify contacts, share experiences, and strengthen the importance of cleaning as an absolute social value. Afidamp and ISSA working together will further this mission by setting more ambitious, new global projects.”

The move expands ISSA’s footprint in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia, adding to its growing family of events and activities under recent deals in Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and South Africa.

ISSA has made it known that it is committed to creating a more unified voice for the global cleaning industry and that call has resonated with many organizations in various countries over the past two years, leading to 14 mergers and partnerships that have expanded the association’s membership by more than 2,000 organizations in 2018 alone, for a total of 9,200 corporate members.

“The world is increasingly more connected, and cleaning industry leaders have begun to recognize that the largely localized and fragmented nature of associations and industry events no longer fits today’s demanding business model,” said Dianna Steinbach, ISSA Vice President of International Service. “We must come together to find common efficiencies and evolve how we meet the world’s growing commercial and institutional cleaning needs.”

“This has been a partnership a long time in the making,” said Barrett. “We are pleased to take better advantage of the long-standing relationship between ISSA and Afidamp, to create new possibilities.

“This isn’t just an American group and Italian group talking only about exhibitions. We are looking at the global landscape to paint a more comprehensive picture of the global cleaning industry, its needs and its potential. And we encourage others in the industry to join us to define the landscape of tomorrow.”

More details will be forthcoming in the next few months regarding new developments at the Pulire exhibition in Verona 2019, the global Forum series, and more. For more information, contact Dianna Steinbach, Vice President of International Services, or Toni d’Andrea, Executive Director of Afidamp.

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