'The biggest winning region in SSA right now'

Many fortune 500
multi-national
companies have
shifted focus
from South Africa to countries
in East Africa like Kenya,
Uganda and
Tanzania
which are
experiencing
strong growth
and regional
integration.
And taking
note of the
emerging
opportunities
Standard
Bank recently
launched a new
inter-regional
trade conference to introduce
SA businesses to these markets.
But the region is not without
problems, including the impact
of climate change such as El
Niño which has hit consumers
hard, worrying authoritarian
tendencies in countries like
Uganda, unemployment and
the threat of terrorism.
Anna Rosenberg, director
for Sub-
Saharan Africa
at Frontier
Strategy
Group, a global
research and
advisory firm
specialising
in helping
multinational
companies
doing business
in emerging
markets,
said the
region, unlike elsewhere on
the continent, had benefited
from the global slow-down
and presented attractive
opportunities.
“What we can tell across the
board is that many companies
are shifting their focus to East
Africa simply because it is a
region that is still growing
strongly and experiencing
less trouble than South Africa
and Nigeria for example,”
Rosenberg said.
“Some fundamental
drivers have changed the
overall growth trajectory in
the continent. There has been
quite a lot of currency volatility
across the continent, the slowdown
in growth in China and
the commodity price crash.
Those three drivers have led to
a very different new normal in
Sub-Saharan Africa that has
disadvantaged some markets
like South Africa, Nigeria and
Angola but it is benefiting
countries in East Africa.”
Rosenberg said East Africa
was less exposed to China
and had benefited from lower
commodity prices while the
currency in Kenya was starting
to stabilise.
According to the World
Bank, GDP growth of 5.7%
is forecast for Kenya, 5% for
Uganda, 7.2% for Tanzania,
7.6% for Rwanda and 3.5% for
Burundi and South Sudan in
2016.
“The region in itself is
probably the biggest winning
region in Sub-Saharan Africa
right now,” she said.
Rosenberg said
opportunities for investors
were in sectors governments
prioritised like construction
– basic infrastructure
development and housing –
education and health services
as well as consumer facing
business and renewable
energy. This was an up-andcoming
sector, particularly in
countries still struggling with
power shortages, she added.
Light manufacturing and
agri-business also presented
opportunities.
Standard Bank, Rest of
Africa, head of commercial
banking, Dr Manessah
Alagbaoso, who recently
returned from an inaugural
trans-regional conference
in Nairobi in April agreed
opportunities existed in these
sectors as well as in technology.
INSERT & CAPTION
The region has
benefited from the
global slow-down and
presents attractive
opportunities.
– Anna Rosenberg