Tuning into opportunities in Angola

Wholesale courier, African Destination Network (ADN), is upbeat about growth in crossborder trade after a good 2014 and expectations of an even better year ahead. “We are bullish about Africa as there continue to be very good opportunities in the region, specifically around mining in northern Mozambique, Angola and Kenya,” said ADN director, Paul Danvers. He noted that while Angola was a difficult country in which to trade, it was one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. He said that ADN had been fortunate to find a good route and a good on-the-ground partner to facilitate trade to the country. But there are several challenges that could undermine Africa’s trade growth, including infrastructure deficits, said Danvers. He conceded that “much progress” had been made with regard to infrastructure development on the continent but pointed out that developments were not happening fast enough to keep up with increased demand. “Furthermore, a lot of the infrastructure changes take place in and around the main trading sectors and there are no changes in the outlying areas where we do a lot of business,” added Danvers. Another challenge is the ongoing changes to rules and regulations and fluctuating rates. “Zimbabwe’s transport rates, for example, change from week to week. And with some countries there is often no prior notice of regulatory changes,” said Danvers. ADN manages this by having a strong network of agents on the ground across its African destinations to ensure the company has up-to-date information on any changes that may affect rates or speed of delivery. Danvers told FTW that while Africa remained a strong growth focus, ADN had also just finalised a larger network outside of the continent with distribution to and from the Far East, United Kingdom, the Middle East and the United States. INSERT & CAPTION We are bullish about Africa as there continue to be very good opportunities in the region. – Paul Danvers