East Africa a key growth area for Gauteng company

Johannesburg-based logistics consultancy, Beyond Africa Logistics, has registered as a freight forwarding company and will soon purchase its own fleet of trucks to use for local and crossborder distribution from its Kenya office. “We’ve been outsourcing our transport and are excited to say we will receive our first five trucks by the end of the year, with a further five to arrive by February next year,” co-owners, Ruth Butcher and Michelle du Toit, told FTW. Founded three years ago, the company established an office in Kenya as there are “huge opportunities” in East Africa and they anticipate signing “quite a bit” of additional work with their current clients in the region, as well as new companies who’ve learnt of the company via word of mouth. “Kenya is very pro-business, and while there are certain challenges that need to be overcome, we’ve found that business and government will go the extra mile to facilitate trade in the country, particularly for South African-based businesses,” said du Toit. She said Kenya was strategically positioned as a gateway into the rest of Africa, as is Gauteng for southern Africa. “We felt it was important to have a strong presence in both locations, with our own staff operating on the ground,” said Du Toit. Butcher added that Beyond Africa’s long-term plans included expanding into Uganda and Tanzania and it would consider having a presence in West Africa, especially Ghana and Nigeria. “We have an established reputation in East Africa based on work we do for premium drinks company Diageo and we hope to capitalise on that to expand our services further,” she said. Currently the company loads 10-15 trucks a day in Kenya alone, on a 24-hour, seven days per week basis for Diageo, and it is rapidly expanding say the directors. In South Africa, Beyond Africa offers road, sea and air freight logistics services for clients globally, including bonded and non-bonded warehousing. CAPTION On the fast track… Michelle du Toit and Ruth Butcher.