Local enterprise content management firm Digital Archiving Systems (DAS) has invested 50% in a $250 000 imaging bureau in the Angolan capital of Luanda.
The Angolan bureau is the first DAS co-owned and operated facility outside SA, says DAS MD Ronald Melmed.
The local partner involved in the venture is UNIBIT Technoligia & Informatica, with both partners having an equal share in the business, he says.
In addition to servicing DAS's current business, the Luanda bureau will be used to prospect for new business, he explains. It will employ 10 skilled enterprise content management workers, Melmed adds.
He notes that DAS has previously worked in Angola. Last year, the company provided the Angolan government with about 1 000 open source software (OSS) client licences, he says.
Strong potential
Melmed says DAS's ongoing interaction with the Angolan government, in the field of scanning and imaging, has helped the company realise the tremendous potential ECM has in Angola's public sector.
The Angolan public sector wastes millions of hours annually sorting, storing and retrieving hardcopy documents, he notes.
"While Angola's economic growth has been phenomenal, it has mostly been on the back of oil exports. This underlines the importance of diversifying the economy and explains why the Angolan government has been so supportive of firms like ours, which bring previously unheard of skills into the country."
DAS also works remotely in other countries, and has assisted other companies to set up scanning and imaging bureaus in countries including Botswana, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ethiopia, Melmed says.
DAS is currently working on a partnership in Nigeria to expand imaging and OSS, he adds.
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