25-05-2017
Today Wesgro in collaboration with The Department of the Premier, the Department of Agriculture, Trade Invest Africa and Mazars hosted its seventh annual Africa Day Business Seminar.
Held at Mazars House in Century City, the event aimed to bring together businesspeople from across the continent to learn, share experiences and network with Cape businesses, thereby promoting intra-Africa trade and investment.
With over 100 confirmed attendees, the event featured business delegations from Ghana, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, as well as consular officials from Angola, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Ghana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
This year's focus was on agribusiness in Africa with speakers discussing relevant issues such as business opportunities, prospects, hurdles, logistics, financing, etc. “We are saying to people that although it is challenging to do business in Africa, it is a region bourgeoning with opportunities that are worthy of exploration and investment,” said Wesgro’s Africa Trade Head Michael Gamwo.
Africa is the largest destination region for investment by Western Cape companies, accounting more than 50% of outward investment. Retailers are leading this investment drive with their African expansion strategies, many of them with the support of Wesgro’s Trade team.
A survey published in Wesgro’s The Western Cape: Africa’s Trade and Investment Springboard report examined the perspective and experience of companies that have recently invested in the Cape. Three quarters of companies surveyed had a positive perception of Cape Town as an African base of operations and noted the city’s sophisticated infrastructure as a draw card. Of the companies that intended to expand into Africa, a quarter indicated they would opt to run their African regional headquarters in Cape Town.
This year the Cape Town Air Access team, based at Wesgro, has already secured a new Kenyan Airways direct flight to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe as well as the expansion of the existing service to Luanda, Angola, in addition to the expansion of Airlink’s service to Maun, Botswana and Windhoek, Namibia. This increase in connectivity to the rest of Africa helps to strengthen trade, investment and tourism ties to key partners on the continent.