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DRC Is The Largest Market In Sub-Saharan Africa For South African Products

DRC Is The Largest Market In Sub-Saharan Africa For South African Products

From BlouinNews. Blog by Michael Lerner.

A 48-member business delegation from South Africa was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week for the Seventh Investment and Trade Initiative.

South Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said the DRC “is a strategic market for South Africa, with a domestic market estimated at 77 million people, and bordered by nine countries with a potential market of 200 million consumers.”

The DRC is “the largest market for South African products and services in sub-Saharan Africa,” Davies said.

South Africa already has substantial influence in the DRC thanks to its military training, participation in U.N. peacekeeping, and regional diplomacy. South African Army instructors have trained over 9,000 soldiers from the regular DRC army over the last four years or so, under the terms of the countries’ agreement known as Operation Thebe. In fact, the DRC recently requested more such training.

But now the emphasis looks to be switching towards trade and investment. This year’s Investment and Trade Initiative aligns with the post-conflict reconstruction strategy for the DRC that South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry has formulated. The strategy “entails infrastructure rehabilitation and development as well as the facilitation of investments into that country’s economy by South African entities.”

As such, the South African delegation consists of business people from diverse sectors: agriculture and agro-processing, infrastructure, environmental, energy, mining and capital equipment, medical equipment, and electro-technical.

“A lot of South Africans are increasingly coming to the DRC and are tapping into the opportunities that are available here. Most of those who have invested in the country are reaping the rewards because this country has totally transformed,” said Ntsiki Mashimbye, South African ambassador to the DRC, at the ITI’s welcoming ceremony.

DRC’s economy will be taking off in the next few years, and South Africa needs to take advantage of this, Mashimbye said. “Opportunities range from producing oranges to building bridges. Roads are going to be developed, about 180 dams will be built,” he said. This shows the DRC is a “good place” for entrepreneurs, although he cautioned South Africans to do proper due diligence in order for their businesses to succeed.

Business opportunities could stem from the DRC’s plans to develop in each province a mega farm of 50,000-to-150,000 hectares. These will produce food for local consumption and exports, and nearby new towns will be established with processing industries and “many other jobs.”

Other opportunities lie in providing electricity to off-grid areas. Samsung Electronics Africa’s “Digital Village,” launched this month in Kasenga, DRC, uses solar power to run an Internet-connected school, a medical center, and an administration center that can be used as office space for local entrepreneurs and others with limited electricity supply.

The risks of doing business in the DRC are still high.

Read more at BlouinNews.