Survey: Top firms believe in Africa

  1. Posted on Tuesday 16 December 2008 - 10:12
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    Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana Photo: Pim de Wit
    Top business executives are still optimistic about Africa's growth for 2009 in spite of the global credit crunch, a recent survey by the organisation 'africapractice' revealed. 62 per cent of the business leaders with interests in Africa said they plan to expand significantly, while 38 per cent said they will slightly.
    Benin, active street business. Photo: Pim de Wit
    The global economic crisis still dominates the outlook for business in Africa in 2009. A press statement from africapractice said “When asked what the greatest challenge will be for their business in 2009, the majority of executives cited issues around market volatility, weathering the global downturn, cashflow and credit.”

    “The key challenges will be in the as yet unknown impact of the global downturn on our economies, with ongoing instability caused by the likes of Zimbabwe and DRC,” said Chris Stephenson, MD of McKinney Rogers, Kenya.

    Asif Sheikh, CEO of Africa 24 Media, an online portal for African media content, said talent is the biggest concern for his company, which was re-iterated by 31 per cent of respondents. While opportunities exist in many sectors, particularly energy, finance and telecoms, capacity building will be almost as important as financing, the survey findings said.

    The interviewees were executives from telecoms, beverages, banking, media, private equity and mining businesses.

    Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is expected to drop in 2009, according to 69 per cent of respondents, while others see levels from China being sustained (23 per cent).
    Across most of the Africa region the rise of the middle class, with discretionary spending power, will help support consumer industries.

    “It is encouraging to see that so many leading businesses expect their operations in Africa to continue growing at rates above the global average in 2009, albeit slower than in recent years,” said Marcus Courage, managing director of africapractice. “Africa will be the fastest growing region for many multinational companies in 2009, and the region will receive a disproportionate amount of resources to support that growth.’’

    Sub-Saharan Africa saw GDP growth of 6.5 percent last year, the highest rate in decades.
    africapractice is a strategic communications consultancy with its headquarters in the UK and a network of offices across the African continent.

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