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.