Opportunities for U.S. manufacturers and investors in South Africa reflect the growth of its consumer base and its efforts to upgrade and develop its infrastructure to match and further fuel its growth.
Americans will recall that on election night 2000, the country was plunged into uncertainty creating an ugly and hair raising political roller coaster. Ultimately, 47 lawsuits related to the election were filed in Florida, and a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court decided the matter. In Israel the Prime Minister resigned recently as did Prime Minister Tony Blair last June after a decade in power.
In South Africa, the decision last week, to recall President Thabo Mbeki, is similarly an unthinkable and messy business, however it is an important democratic precedent. “Nowhere in Africa has a sitting President been rejected in a free vote by his own party and nowhere in Africa has a sitting president been rejected by his own political party this soon after independence.” The vote therefore signals that political leaders are accountable to, and can be “peacefully” removed. Evidence that South Africa is a dynamic and vibrant democracy and it's political path is different from that of other African countries where leaders have entrenched themselves for decades.
The current turbulence on Wall Street has so far had relatively little negative affect on South Africa’s diverse economy and Africa is experiencing the fastest level of sustained economic growth it has seen in 30 years, averaging over 5% since 2004. At a time when most of the world is experiencing an economic slowdown, Africa with all of it's significant problems is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. Private capital flows to sub-Saharan Africa have soared in the past decade, to over $50 billion in 2007.
Despite belief by some that most of this growth is temporary and is driven by the global increase in commodity prices, a deeper look shows that this is a more robust form of growth. Research performed by McKinsey & Company, shows that only 15% of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2006 was directly attributable to an increase in commodity resource prices.
Business Day, the Johannesburg based newspaper reported this week that Proctor and Gamble, with plants in Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco, is considering building a factory in South Africa at a cost of almost $25 million. The factory would produce diapers for distribution in South and Southern Africa. "We cannot produce for a market of 45 million people, but if you look at the surrounding countries in the region the consumer market grows by a 100 million and then the investment starts to make sense" said a spokesperson fro P&G in Johannesburg.
It is worth noting that the 20% ($5.2 billion) investment by China's largest bank the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) into Standard Bank (Johannesburg) was the largest made by the Chinese Bank and the largest made into Africa.
Africa's trade with China has been growing at 40 % per year since 2001 when it stood at $4.5 billion. Last year China's bilateral trade with Africa amounted to $50 billion.
At the end of 2007 there were 281 million cell phone subscribers in Africa representing a penetration rate of over 30%
ESKOM Holdings Limited, South Africa's state-owned power company and TRANSNET (ports, rail, pipelines) need to increase new capital expenditure in the tens of billions of dollars over the next ten years.
Opportunities for U.S. manufacturers and investors in South Africa reflect the growth of its consumer base and its efforts to upgrade and develop its infrastructure to match and further fuel its growth.
The awarding to South Africa of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer championship is expected to result in $500 million in improvements and investment projects, giving a boost to the construction and tourism industries. The workload of larger construction companies continues to be boosted by large infrastructure- related projects such as the Gautrain, Sanral road building and upgrading projects.
Important growth sectors include:
• Airport/Ground Support Equipment
• Medical Equipment
• Automotive Parts/Service Equipment
• Pollution Control Equipment, and
• Healthcare Services
• Security
Important growth sectors in Information Technology and Telecommunications:
• IT security
• IT outsourcing and managed services
• Business process outsourcing (BPO)
• Integration of existing systems including middleware
• Business process management
• Blade servers
• The service provider market – including applications and systems infrastructure hosting
• Training and education
• Tactical improvements to existing solutions including customer relationship management, supply chain management, and enterprise resource management
• Mobile/wireless environments including application development and management services
• Voice over IP (VoIP)
• Unified messaging
• Data storage
• Implementation of new applications
• Multi-function peripherals
• PC hardware
• Servers
• Packaged software in general
• E-commerce/e-business
In South Africa, the decision last week, to recall President Thabo Mbeki, is similarly an unthinkable and messy business, however it is an important democratic precedent. “Nowhere in Africa has a sitting President been rejected in a free vote by his own party and nowhere in Africa has a sitting president been rejected by his own political party this soon after independence.”
The current turbulence on Wall Street has so far had relatively little negative affect on South Africa’s diverse economy and Africa is experiencing the fastest level of sustained economic growth it has seen in 30 years, averaging over 5% since 2004. At a time when most of the world is experiencing an economic slowdown, Africa with all of it's significant problems is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. Private capital flows to sub-Saharan Africa have soared in the past decade, to over $50 billion in 2007.
Despite belief by some that most of this growth is temporary and is driven by the global increase in commodity prices, a deeper look shows that this is a more robust form of growth. Research performed by McKinsey & Company, shows that only 15% of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2006 was directly attributable to an increase in commodity resource prices.
Business Day, the Johannesburg based newspaper reported this week that Proctor and Gamble, with plants in Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco, is considering building a factory in South Africa at a cost of almost $25 million. The factory would produce diapers for distribution in South and Southern Africa. "We cannot produce for a market of 45 million people, but if you look at the surrounding countries in the region the consumer market grows by a 100 million and then the investment starts to make sense" said a spokesperson fro P&G in Johannesburg.
It is worth noting that the 20% ($5.2 billion) investment by China's largest bank the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) into Standard Bank (Johannesburg)
Africa's trade with China has been growing at 40 % per year since 2001 when it stood at $4.5 billion. Last year China's bilateral trade with Africa amounted to $50 billion.
At the end of 2007 there were 281 million cell phone subscribers in Africa representing a penetration rate of over 30%
ESKOM Holdings Limited, South Africa's state-owned power company and TRANSNET (ports, rail, pipelines) need to increase new capital expenditure in the tens of billions of dollars over the next ten years.
Opportunities for U.S. manufacturers and investors in South Africa reflect the growth of its consumer base and its efforts to upgrade and develop its infrastructure to match and further fuel its growth.
The awarding to South Africa of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer championship is expected to result in $500 million in improvements and investment projects, giving a boost to the construction and tourism industries. The workload of larger construction companies continues to be boosted by large infrastructure-
Important growth sectors include:
• Airport/Ground Support Equipment
• Medical Equipment
• Automotive Parts/Service Equipment
• Pollution Control Equipment, and
• Healthcare Services
• Security
Important growth sectors in Information Technology and Telecommunications:
• IT security
• IT outsourcing and managed services
• Business process outsourcing (BPO)
• Integration of existing systems including middleware
• Business process management
• Blade servers
• The service provider market – including applications and systems infrastructure hosting
• Training and education
• Tactical improvements to existing solutions including customer relationship management, supply chain management, and enterprise resource management
• Mobile/wireless environments including application development and management services
• Voice over IP (VoIP)
• Unified messaging
• Data storage
• Implementation of new applications
• Multi-function peripherals
• PC hardware
• Servers
• Packaged software in general
• E-commerce/e-
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US Export Council provides assistance to American firms seeking access to international export markets in the Gulf States, Middle East and Africa. http://www.usexportcouncil.com
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