South Africa companies Conclude Trade and Investment Mission to Angola

PRETORIA, South Africa, July 23, 2018/ — The twenty South African businesspeople who participated in the five-day Trade and Investment Mission to Angola led by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Bulelani Magwanishe have concluded the visit and are pleased with the outcomes.

The businesspeople, whose participation was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), expressed satisfaction with the exposure, reception and outcomes of the mission that they participated which took place from 16-20 July 2018.  They added that the mission has provided them with an opportunity to scope the market, discover trade and investment opportunities and engage with their Angolan counterparts.

The Tender Manager of UWP Consulting, Mr Humbulani Mulaudzi says 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 lie.

Similarly, Andries Botha of Void Pro Manufacturing, the manufacturers and distributors of the VoidCon Decking Systems, also expressed contentment with the mission. He indicated that all the business-to-business meetings that he had and the site visits had been very 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 says that exploring business opportunities and the processes of accessing them had yielded unexpected, but very positive results.  Lephuting highlighted that gaining access to decision-makers of the railway sector provided additional opportunities for the application and customisation of his product and service offering to the railway sector over and above the original civil aviation environment that he normally operates in.

“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,” said Lephuting.

The Chief Executive Officer of Rail Roads Association, Ms Mesela Nhlapo could not contain her excitement as a result of future prospects yielded by the mission.  She said that the association was motivated by the magnitude of prospects in the rail and roads space. In response, she would be bringing a technical delegation in two weeks comprising members of different sub-sectors of the industry to verify some of the initial discoveries in the Angolan market with the viewing to providing suitable solutions.

The Business Development Manager of Reelin Bearings, Mr Mervyn Chetty, says the mission was a success as he had fruitful meetings and managed to acquire a couple of good leads that he would follow up on.

The Chief Director of Trade Invest Africa at the dti, Ms Zanele Sanni described the mission as having exceeded all expectations. This success stems 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 validation of project information in order to provide market appropriate solutions for Angola.

Sanni also 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 participated 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.

Caption: The South African business delegation during a site visit to Boa Vida is a privately owned company responsible for the development of real estates projects in Luanda.