Business Partnership Strategies for Africa

Nov 07, 2011 | Written by Editorial Staff

 

When conducting business in Africa, or any other developing nation, you will face challenges that you might not necessarily encounter in the developed world.   Jumaane Tafawa, Director of Frontier 100 at the Initiative for Global Development, points out that, “For many companies, whether they’re African companies expanding to other regions of Africa or international companies expanding into Africa, both have said that it takes 1-2 years to be on the ground in an African country, to access the opportunity, and to understand the market.”

Some other challenges for doing business in Africa include navigating the local government and being accepted as a local company, as opposed to being viewed as an outsider.  Finding the right local partner and showing a commitment to the local community can go a long way in helping you to surmount these obstacles.  “When people talk about Africa questions arise about political, economic, and regulatory uncertainty,” says Tafawa.  “Navigating risks are quite common and partnerships can be quite effective at helping to address them.”

So how do you know if a potential partner will be a good fit with you?  Tafawa believes that, “One of the best ways to do that is to engage with them -whether it’s a specific independent project that you’re engaged on, or whether it’s asking your partner to provide a few discrete services to one of your local clients.  This is the stage where you’re really getting to know your partner and you’re seeing whether you’re a compatible fit for your long term plans.”

Tafawa also recommends that, “You need to have a very close and personal relationship with the various senior members of the company (that you’ve partnered with) in order to allow you to make day-to-day management decisions rather quickly and efficiently.”

It is also important to understand that business partnerships need to create value in local communities.  Tafawa shares that companies create this value in various ways “from introducing new or improved goods and services that can increase living standards; to providing actual training, or workforce development; or even improving some of the standards of industries within a number of different countries in Africa.”

“They (companies) have been not only successful in achieving their financial objectives but (also) in having a social impact and some of them have been quite profound,” says Tafawa, “It’s fascinating to see how important it is for these companies to incorporate both the social and financial aspects.”

Featured image is Jumaane Tafawa, Director of Frontier 100 at Initiative for Global Development. Provided by IGD.

You can download the IGD whitepaper, “Business-to-Business Partnerships: Recommendations for Expansion across Africa,” here.

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