‘Technology presents opportunities and challenges’

Africa remains one of the most challenging regions for any technology-based company, says Arnold Garber, chairman of Compu-Clearing. “Technology thrives on volume and less variety. Africa is the opposite. It has lots of variety and not much volume.” Africa also does not have much consistency in terms of the way things are done as every country has its own rules and regulations and way of operating. “The vast majority of African countries have only a fraction of the volumes that South Africa has. In South Africa the technology developed for the markets of the United States, Europe and the large countries of the East, is often used as it is available within months locally.” It takes slightly longer to reach other African countries where the Internet doesn’t quite work, and where the availability of technology skills is very scarce. “This presents challenges, but also offers opportunities for companies that are prepared to take on these challenges,” says Garber. There are of course notable exceptions in the region, he told FTW. “For example in Namibia there are new opportunities being created all the time and they are also technologically advanced.” From a freight point of view, Maputo offers great promise. “By all logic Maputo will become the natural alternative to the port of Durban for cargo destined for Gauteng,” says Garber. “The distance between Maputo and Johannesburg is actually less by road than from Durban. In the past, political instability and lack of infrastructure played a major role, but this has all changed as there is a firm commitment by both the government and the people of Mozambique to develop this corridor.” According to Garber the Customs organisations in the different African countries are still very antiquated and modernisation is happening very slowly. But it is coming. “Regional co-operation is still limited and SACU and SADC are working very hard to bring harmonisation to the different African Customs organisations. The future looks promising and progress is in the horizon, although inevitably progress will be slow,” he says “Africa is following the same progress as Latin America, some 50 years later. Fifty years ago, in Latin America there wasn’t a single country that wasn’t a military dictatorship riddled with corruption. Today, there is hardly a country in Latin America that is not fully democratic – and although corruption still exists, it is minimal compared to what it was five years ago. Democracy demands accountability, and accountability is the enemy of corruption. We still have a long way to go in Africa, but great progress is being made.”