adminDumisani Nsingo Senior Business Reporter
A NUMBER of local companies are exploring opportunities in South Sudan despite continued civil wars and political unrest in the East African country, an official has said.
ZimTrade chief executive officer, Ms Sithembile Pilime said a number of companies have established branches in South Sudan while others continue to explore the market since the country’s trade promotion body carried out a market research in Africa’s newest nation last year.
“The only thing which we haven’t done as ZimTrade is to really take a group but the companies are already looking into that market and some are already established in that market. It’s just that the political instability makes it difficult for us to co-ordinate anything. It’s a market that’s a bit far afield,” Ms Pilime said.
Association for Business in Zimbabwe chief executive officer Dr Lucky Mlilo said business should brave the risks which come with investing or trading in war zones as long as they are assured of lucrative business.
“You find that business is very lucrative in countries where there is war as long as there is a market and one is assured of getting their investment back.
“Even in Africa where there are a number of countries in economic turmoil you find that companies from other continents come to invest because they will have seen opportunities,” Dr Mlilo said.
He said: “If there is a market in South Sudan we are encouraging local companies to invest there.”
Mr Zwelibanzi Ndlovu, a business transformation strategist and founder of Stop to Start International said local companies stand to find investment opportunities in war ravaged countries especially during the post conflict period.
“Opportunities come when there is chaos and the first opportunity is to put right or correct that chaos. What usually happens after the chaos is that there are a number of infrastructural projects,” he said.
Ms Pilime said she was not at liberty to divulge the names of companies that have established or doing business in South Sudan but Sunday Business can reveal that Fidelity Assurance set up a branch in the East African country two years ago in a partnership with the National Insurance Company in that country.
The partnership was consummated in 2013 after the National Insurance Company of Sudan had shown interest in partnering Fidelity with the aim of tapping into the country’s insurance business. Both companies invested just above $500 000 to initiate operations.
The money was used as working capital for the joint venture’s running costs.
Under the joint venture, Fidelity is basically running the Information technology infrastructure, motor vehicles and the human resources aspect of the operations.
Fidelity Life already has a presence in other regional markets where it already runs business in Malawi operating Vanguard Life Assurance, which it acquired in 2005 as it sought to spruce up its life and individual pensions for the group.
Meanwhile ZimTrade is carrying out a market survey in Windhoek and northern-Namibia and looking forward to conducting another one in southern Angola.
“We have our people out on the field and once they have put together the information, I think in the next couple of months and if there is still room this year or early next year we should impart information of what they found in that market, places, which are useful for our companies, those who may need to supply that market.
“The idea of a market survey is to find out what opportunities are there, who the competitors are and their pricing and their qualities so that companies are informed of the packaging labelling because sometimes how your product is packaged can actually sell,” Ms Pilime said.
derick.khumalo