In a slumped world economy, it makes sense to get a share of a growing, developing market like Africa. After all, corporate profitability on the continent is higher than any other region. Challenging conditions and high risks are just part of what businesses adventuring there will face, however.
Increasingly, global and South African companies alike confront extreme competition from Chinese and Indian companies on the continent, also in the IT and telecommunications industries. If a South African company assumes it 'deserves' a piece of the action, it won't be in the game for long.
A company that has strategically partnered with local African businesses, that has established itself and that is delivering excellent services at developing-region pricing has a chance facing the Asian tigers.
Similarly to SA, a company needs to wade through red tape to do business legally in a new area. Being a 'foreign company' creates far more complications, though.
"A form of local ownership is required in each country, for example, 20% to 30% citizen holdings, similar to BEE policies in SA. Without local ownership, you may open a business, but be unable to get licences to operate," says Johnny Aucamp, head of strategic relations at MTN Business.
"Every country is unique in how it operates, and in who you need to influence or be involved with. That's why having local people on the ground, who can guide you and point you in the right direction, is so important both for regulations, and for relationships with key government officials or key enterprises," adds Tim Ellis, heading converged services and connectivity at Altech.
"Once you have a footprint and establish yourself, you need to get customers. Having someone who can broker some of those engagements is a huge help. It can shorten the sales cycle from a few years to potentially a few weeks or months," he comments.
There are new forces of competition coming out of Asia, which the bulk of South African companies have yet to comprehend.
Martyn Davies, Frontier Advisory
But finding those brokers in Africa can be so tricky that a major South African sales leads-generation company recruits its personnel for their saintly patience and great sense of humour.
"In some countries, the person will have three different cellphone numbers, and which one they use will depend on which network is cheaper that day," reflects Louise Robison, sales director at CG Consulting.
"Don't expect to meet someone in an office, either: he could be looking after a market stall on a Friday, even if he works for a global company."
An appointment is no guarantee either.
"You get told over the phone he's the MD. You can make an appointment, and confirm the day before. But he won't be there, and there's probably no one in the position he's told you about.”
Local partnering faster, easier
Putting down a footprint in Africa from scratch, without the benefit of a local partner's experience, means learning everything the hard way. And it can leave your business without a licence to trade, which a partnership would give you access to, cautions Aucamp.
When you go into another country, you effectively go into another man's house.
Johnny Aucamp, MTN Business
Simplest and quickest by far, he says, is to enter into a partnership with an established local company.
In contrast, mergers and acquisitions are complex and can take months or years to finalise. Return on investment in five years is uncertain, and laws could have been changed in that period. As an example, adds Aucamp, Zambia recently re-issued all its licences and stopped voice-over-IP traffic exiting the country.
Sometimes, business potential can make an acquisition worthwhile, though. Altech has bought a 51% stake in Kenya Data Networks (KDN), part of the highly influential Sameer Group in Kenya. Sameer holds companies in several industries, including construction and IT.
"If you go in as a multi-national, and don't have local shareholding, you are disadvantaged. For one, you probably won't win any government business.
However, that partnership has still seen major operational challenges. As reported in ITWeb, Altech's East Africa operation had financial results far below expected, due to delays in launching the KDN data centre.
Follow my customers
Another option is following a large customer into its regional operations to quickly extend your own footprint. Bharti Airtel reportedly has more than 225 million customers in 19 Asian and African countries. Over 44 million are in Africa.
The company that is probably the most competitive in ICT in Africa is Huawei, and in five years' time, it will probably surpass Cisco.
Martyn Davies, Frontier Advisory
IBM's 2010 support deal for Bharti Airtel in Africa gave it instant direct access to 16 countries on the continent, says Nick Redshaw, manager of general business in the Middle East and Africa at IBM.
It doesn't hurt that Bharti has subsequently bought Zain Africa to reportedly become the fifth biggest global telecommunications company. Or that Sunil Mittal, chief of the Bharti Group, said in June it has already invested $11 billion in Africa and committed nearly another $1 billion for 2012 to spread its network throughout the continent.
Direct presence isn't always necessary, though. Technology company VMware is extending its footprint across the continent through partnerships with global technology companies, distributors and system integrators. These must be skilled and have first-mover advantage, says Chris Norton, head of VMware SA.
VMware's partnership with homegrown systems integrator Dimension Data gives it a footprint in a swathe of African countries.
"Dimension Data is locally a premier partner and we're working on making it a global premier partner, because of the extensive investments it's made not only in Africa, but also in Europe, and the Americas. Dimension Data lends a significant amount of creditability to our brand," says Norton.
Dimension Data itself was bought by the world's second largest telecoms company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), last year.
Asian giants
"We have a preferred partner programme across the continent and work closely with these partners,” says Rakesh Parbhoo, head of emerging Africa operations at Dimension Data Middle East and Africa.
“A lot of our current offices were formed out of partnerships on particular projects, for example. Our partnership programme covers 90% of the countries on the continent," Parbhoo adds.
This way, rather than working with dozens of service providers, the customer gets a single point of contact across several African countries, with Dimension Data acting as single service aggregator.
South African solution providers face at least two major types of competition on the continent: unrealistic opposing bids, and disruptive business models driven by competitive Asian giants.
Chinese and Indian companies are changing the game in industries as diverse as telecommunications, IT, medicine and agriculture, says Dr Martyn Davies, CEO at analyst consultancy Frontier Advisory.
"The company that is probably the most competitive in ICT on the continent is Huawei Technologies," he says, just back from a visit to the company in China.
"It is revolutionising low-cost ICT connectivity, top-end technology and services. Huawei will be doing a lot of networking across the continent. It has massive intent. Its key priority is emerging market economies, of which Africa is the final frontier. I would argue that in five years' time, the company will probably surpass Cisco," asserts Davies.
"The company's approach is enabling for Africans, because it is low-cost connectivity technology. But companies like Cisco and Siemens charge European rates in developing economy environments. Chinese and Indian companies are charging developing world rates for equal technology, if not better," he adds.
"China is the single biggest trading partner with Africa now. It's the biggest investor and lender to African governments. It is also the largest financier of hard infrastructure, be it roads, rail, refineries, ports, power stations and the like, and for 'less hard' infrastructure like ICT. Looking at the stats, China views Africa as its largest off-shore target region," Davies states.
The tigers are here
Giant Asian companies also partner each other in developing markets.
"The Asian IT companies are coming into Africa, putting a lot of investment and people into the continent and putting some very competitive offerings on the table," says Aucamp.
"We're seeing that on a daily basis, not only in IT but in all business sectors. They are very aggressive in the way they want to approach their business in Africa."
"We have to ask whether South African companies have a strong value proposition to assist foreign companies coming to the continent," argues Davies. "What possible value can you add to a Chinese company going into, for example, East Africa? In many cases there is possibility for alignment or collaboration, but the value propositions of South African businesses need to be very clearly established," advises Davies.
Established, mature South African IT companies need to go into Africa with their eyes wide open, says Aucamp.
"You cannot be arrogant. You cannot think you know what's going on because we're ahead of the curve.
Where you need local ownership, you need to respect that. Where you need to be with the right people at the right time, discussing how to do business and listening to what they want from you...you need to listen, you can' t be telling," he says.
"To do business in Africa, two things are required: mutual respect and trust. When you go into another country, you effectively go into another man's house. When you go into his house, you respect his culture and you respect his ways," comments Aucamp
Getting a share of the growing African IT market means developing canny partnerships, respect for local mores and facing extreme Asian competition.
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