Trade imbalance threatenss future growth

Opportunities abound in Africa as consumerism grows and there is greater demand for resources, including from South Africa. But if South Africa wants to expand its focus to include the rest of the continent, it needs to be more strategic, increasingly savvy and a lot less prescriptive, especially as Bric and some developed nations are zoning in on African markets. This was the consensus of a group of logistics and export industry heavyweights at a recent ‘Africa Opportunity 2012’ seminar hosted by Barloworld Logistics. “Many South African businesses are at this very moment rolling out their Africa strategies and deciding their launch pads to achieve them,” said Mark Collins, chief executive of Africa for Barloworld Logistics. “They will soon find that supply chain management is an important facilitator in whatever they wish to achieve,” he said. According to Victor Kgomoeswana, executive business development for Africa for cement producer PPC, South Africans are both welcome and needed in Africa, provided they leave their “prescriptive policies” on the backburner. The proof is in the success South African firms have already achieved in banking, financial services, food and especially telecommunications. If they could have the same impact in power generation, infrastructure and manufacturing, this would form the basis of a lasting impact on the continent. The real danger, however, is that South Africa becomes perceived as just another China or Europe, with dangerously one-sided trade imbalances with the continent. “The relationship has to be symbiotic,” said Patrick Lumumba, an advocate of the High Courts in Kenya and Tanzania, who was on the panel. CAPTION African opportunity … Mark Collins and Victor Kgomoeswana discuss the merits of doing business in Africa.