Briefcase operators threaten legitimate companies

Briefcase operators continue to

be one of the major challenges

for industry in southern Africa as

these agents trade with nothing

but a briefcase – pushing rates to

all-time lows.

Known in Zambia as the

Chimutengo Boys (directly

translated as the boys with

offices under the trees), they offer

clearing and forwarding services

at such low rates that the larger

and more established operators

just can’t compete. And the same

is increasingly happening in

Botswana.

“We just lost a client at the

border post where our rate was cut

by 50%,” said one logistics service

provider. “We just cannot match

that and I am not sure how the

person they have appointed can

deliver the service at that rate. It is

essentially a briefcase operator.”

He said these operators put rates

under tremendous pressure. “It’s

questionable how sustainable their

service is and it comes with bigger

risk, but in these economic times

clients are taking that risk.”

He said rates had been pushed

to an all-time low.

Another Botswana operator

agreed, saying it was happening in

several southern African countries

where men with nothing but a

cellphone and a briefcase were

grabbing top-end customers

with low rates. “But the rates are

simply too low to make the service

sustainable and it is impossible for

us to even consider those types of

rates,” he said.

Whilst customs organisations

across the board have upped their

game and are screening potential

agents far better than ever before

– and making it slightly more

difficult to get an operating

licence – the lack of modernisation

of customs procedures has

continued to allow these one-man

bands to exist.