Mike Hodgson, projects director for Macadams Baking Systems, shared some of his top tips for exporting into Africa with FTW’s Liesl Venter. 1. Research the market you want to export to electronically first. 2. Once you have this research in hand find an organisation locally that you can interact with and draw information from. Which one and how you do it is up to you. 3. Make contact with the research information that you have gathered telephonically. 4. Target only one market at a time. Don’t try to be everything to everyone at once. 5. Target a market you can communicate with and where you don’t need translators and interpreters. In other words a market that you are closest to in terms of culture. It will make understanding that market so much easier. 6. Make the effort to understand the logistics nightmare that is exporting into Africa. Each country is different. If you select the wrong country and market for your product first you will be disheartened. Know how you are going to deliver your product. 7. Once you have done all of this visit the country. Know that you are going to have to go back again. We budget for at least three visits per country per year. We have been researching Egypt for more than seven months and are now heading there for a week-long visit. 8. Be prepared to put down capital to get a return. 9. Find a local partner 10. Commit, commit, commit. Don’t expect because Africa is booming that your products are just going to fly off the rack. Like any new market you have to be committed to working at it. 11. Don’t take too much risk. 12. Make sure you have payment secured before your product leaves South Africa. If they can’t pay you there is no business. Ensure you have a policy that speaks to payment in your contract. None of our product leaves South Africa without guaranteed payment or an irrevocable letter of credit.
