Expanding its service
offering into East Africa
is high on the agenda for
security and risk specialists
Professional Aviation
Services (PAS).
According to JJ Cillers,
research and development
project manager, the
company is increasingly
investing in Africa which
has been identified as a
region of opportunity.
“We are very confident
about the potential of Africa
and in particular East
Africa,” he told FTW. “It is
very heartening to see that
East African countries are
realising for any economy
to grow there needs to
be partnership between
government and the private
sector.”
He said major inroads
were being made through
investment in infrastructure
and skills, with governments
in the region committed to
seeing economic growth.
“Several factors will
play a big part in the
short- and long-term
outlook for the region.
These include tightening of
global financing conditions
and protectionist
sentiment among some
western countries,” he
said. “Domestically, within
certain countries, we have
seen delays or no reforms
happening, increased
security threats, and
political uncertainty ahead
of elections.”
He said while this would
undoubtedly have some
impact on companies
operating in East Africa
they were confident that
these were really only shortterm
issues and that the
longer-term view was far
more positive.
“East Africa’s economy
has continued to grow
despite the impact of
drought that has hit the
region. Authorities from
several East African
countries are trying to
reverse the effects of the
drought by stimulating
economic activity through
other means,” he said.
Ongoing investment in
infrastructure and attempts
to diversify economies were
ongoing as were attempts to
create a climate conducive
to business in the region.
He said currently the
biggest risks to East African
operations were political –
while economic instability
was a worry in some
countries.
