Holding back growth

Cultural, country and language
barriers continue to stymie
intra-Africa trade growth, despite a
greater awareness by South African
businesses of cultural sensitivities
when doing business across their
national borders.
That’s the view of Peter Draper,
managing director of research
company Tutwa Consulting, who
said that in some cases it was not
just language and culture that were
barriers, but historical ties as well.
“South African businesses are
generally not interested in the
Francophone countries because the
French are very entrenched in those
regions already and it is quite hard
to break in,” commented Draper.
He told FTW that SA did have
stronger ties with some of the
Portuguese-speaking countries –
like Mozambique and Angola – due
to their close proximity.
“But there are still some barriers
due to language and culture. This
can be overcome by SA businesses,
including logistics operators,
establishing key relationships in
the countries in which they want
to do business and so getting to
understand the culture of doing
business better,” said Draper.