Angola - the gem of Southern Africa

While the influence of China is
very strong and this tends to skew
the opportunity sets, there are huge
opportunities outside of what the
Chinese are doing whether in mining
or infrastructure development, hotels
and tourism or the retail sector.
“Over $10bn of project activity is
happening in Angola but you need to
establish how much is being funded
by the Chinese government because
there’s very little opportunity for SA
suppliers to get involved in Chinesefunded
projects,” says Bonnett.
“But at some levels the
Chinese would like some regional
involvement – although very much
on their terms.”
The government is building 30
supermarkets across the country
which provides big opportunities
for suppliers.
There’s also a huge shortage
of hotel space in Luanda and
other cities as well as major
infrastructure development. “It’s
an exciting market from every
perspective but also incredibly
competitive. You have South
Africans, Chinese, Brazilians,
Portuguese, Italians, French,
Russians and Americans – but
it’s a market where we should
do well.” This is underpinned by
the fact that Angola is our fourth
largest destination in Africa outside
of SACU and exports
from South Africa grew
by 35% to Angola last
year.
Several Angolan
mining houses have
procurement offices
in South Africa which
allows a lot of the
supply to be arranged via
Johannesburg.