As part of the 50th anniversary of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), the government of Zimbabwe extended an invitation to the government of Zambia to Fair (ZITF), the government of Zimbabwe extended an invitation to the government of Zambia to encourage Zambian companies to participate in the show from 28 April to 2 May 2009. The Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry, through Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), was tasked to coordinate the identification of companies from various sectors of the economy to participate in the ZITF. Ndola Lime was invited from the manufacturing sector.
On receiving the invitation from ZDA, Management decided to broaden the objectives for sending its representatives to Bulawayo. Apart from marketing its products, NLC deemed it necessary to include Maintenance Engineer -Projects/Planning  whose role would be to network with firms in Zimbabwe, and the region, capable of providing machinery spare parts and related engineering solutions.
The team  travelled to Bulawayo by road and participated in the fair and all relevant events on the sidelines of the show. The following was the itinerary:  The show opened under the theme “Platform for Dynamic Take-off”. The official opening was on 30 April by HE Rupiah Banda. The fair attracted a total 337 local [Zimbabwean] firms and 80 foreign companies from within the region – with Zambia having 40 companies exhibiting while South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Malawi contributed a significant number of exhibitors.  Most of the Zambian exhibitors were SMEs and traders. Alongside Ndola Lime, the other big firms included: National Milling, Trade Kings, Meltcast and M-Tec cellular phone.  Apropos of Zimbabwean companies, all sectors of the economy were represented.

The Ndola Lime stand attracted huge interest from potential users of lime products. Notable among these were water utility firms, mining processing and chemical manufactures. Contacts were established with the many companies including engineering firms and engineers manufacturing products that could be useful to Ndola Lime. Though the primary focus was to interact with foundries and fabricators, the fair accorded Ndola Lime an opportunity to network with industries offering a variety of engineering solutions.