Business forum helps ease the way for SA companies in Zambia

If South African companies
do more business in Zambia
then it follows that they
will be
contributing
to making the
country do
better, says
Daniel de Beer,
the second
chairperson
of the South
African
Business
Forum (SABF).
The SABF
was set up in
2015 to serve as
a networking
forum for South African
companies doing business in
Zambia, and to represent the
interests of SA companies.
“In terms of our constitution
our aim is to help South African
companies overcome the many
challenges of
doing business
here – both for
the company’s
benefit and
the benefit of
Zambia,” says De
Beer, who is the
regional brand
manager for
Hino.
Successful
businesses
support
sustainable jobs
and attract more
investment into a region or
country, he says.
While the forum engages with
government on behalf of South
African businesses together
with the South African High
Commission to Zambia, the real
value of the organisation is with
the networking opportunities it
provides, believes De Beer.
“Many heads are better than
one, and when members share
their challenges they often find
that someone else has already
found a solution.
“This doesn’t mean that we
don’t compete with each other
for market share.”
As expats operating in a
foreign country South Africans
need to provide support to
each other in order to compete
against other foreign-owned
firms, he adds.
De Beer, who is a relative
newcomer to Zambia, says South
Africans who want to succeed in
Zambia have to learn to be “more
tolerant of other cultures. We are
guests in a foreign country, and it
is us who have to adapt.”
The forum will help South
Africans who want to set up a
business in Zambia. “Again this
is the power of networking. There
will be another South African
company that will have gone
through the process six months
previously and can tell you what
to do and what not to do”.
A golf day is planned for
October to raise funds for
Zambian charities and to
provide an informal networking
opportunity.
Any South African companies
with operations in Zambia – or
who wish to enter the Zambian
market – can email DebeerD@
toyotazambia.co.zm
INSERT & CAPTION
Our aim is to help South
African companies
overcome the many
challenges of doing
business here — both for
the company’s benefit and
the benefit of Zambia.
– Daniel de Beer