SA companies wrap up fruitful trade and investment trip to Angola
THE 20 South African businesspeople who took part in the five-day Trade and Investment Mission to Angola, led by Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Bulelani Magwanishe, have concluded the visit and are pleased with the outcome.
The businesspeople, whose participation was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), also expressed satisfaction with the exposure and reception of the mission held from July 16 to 20.
They said it provided them with an opportunity to scope the market, discover trade and investment opportunities and engage their Angolan counterparts.
UWP Consulting tender manager Humbulani Mulaudzi said the company was privileged to be part of the mission that allowed them to explore the trade and investment opportunities as well as get an understanding of procurement processes, particularly on infrastructure development projects where their interests lay.
Similarly, Andries Botha of Void Pro Manufacturing, the manufacturers and distributors of the VoidCon Decking Systems, expressed contentment with the trip.
He said the business-to-business meetings and the site visits had been productive.
“It was a fact-finding mission for us and we managed to get all the necessary information about the market. We will be coming back on our own to follow up on the acquired leads and business contacts. Setting up a manufacturing plant in Angola in the next six months is definitely in our plans,” said Botha.
Raymond Lephuting of Tellumat said that exploring business opportunities and the processes of accessing them had yielded unexpected but positive results.
He said that gaining access to decision-makers in the railway sector provided additional opportunities for the application and customisation of his product and service offering to the railway sector above the original civil aviation environment in which he normally operated.
“We are ready to supply our equipment to Angola. Through this mission, we were able to generate some leads and subsequently we will be submitting proposals within the next four weeks,” Lephuting said.
Rail Roads Association chief executive Mesela Nhlapo could not contain her excitement as a result of the future prospects that were yielded by the mission.
She said the association was motivated by the magnitude of the possibilities in the rail and roads space. In response, she would be bringing a technical delegation in two weeks comprising members of various subsectors of the industry to verify some of the initial discoveries in the Angolan market with the aim of providing suitable solutions.
Reelin Bearings business development manager Mervyn Chetty said the mission was a success as he had fruitful meetings and acquired a couple of good leads that he would follow up on.
Dti Trade Invest Africa chief director Zanele Sanni described the mission as having exceeded all expectations.
The success stemmed from the feedback received from the Angolan captains of industries and government officials who continued to reiterate their preference to work with South African businesspeople on trade and investment.
She urged the business delegation to follow up on their trade leads and continue with the validation of project information in order to provide market-appropriate solutions for Angola.
Sanni assured the delegation that the South African government and the development financial institutions were committed to supporting qualifying companies with feasibility and project funding as well as non-financial support in order to implement prospects that had been uncovered in Angola.
The companies that took part represented the aerospace and defence, built environment professionals (consulting engineers, civil engineering contractors), mining products and services; and infrastructure (rail and road construction, housing development) sectors.