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15 July 2010 | By: Mohamed Hairul Borhan
- SBF launches the Africa Business Group
- Aims to recruit 200 members in its first operating year
Singapore businesses that wish to venture into Africa now have a platform to help them create business transactions and project deals between the business communities in both countries.
Launched by co-organiser Singapore Business Forum at the inaugural Africa Singapore Business Forum (ASBF), the Africa Business Group (AFBG) will be a results oriented, business-to-business platform to help match local and like-minded African counterparts to do business together.
Chairman of the AFBG, Shabbir Hassanbhai, said that Africa, with its more than 900 million consumers, is one of the world’s fastest growing markets and is a huge marketplace with “massive needs and surprising buying power for the enterprising to seize”.
He said, “This recognition of an emerging Africa therefore comes at an opportune moment for Singapore companies to explore new avenues of investments and business. This is where SBF’s AFBG, as the national business networking and resource platform in Singapore, can play a role to bridge the information, connection and perception gaps between the Singapore and Africa business communities.”
The group, which is aiming to recruit 200 members it its first year, has already been busy organising business missions to the continent. It plans to hold two such missions, one each to Southern and Eastern Africa, in the second half of this year.
Mr Shabbir, who is also Singapore’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, said that Africa currently requires expertise in sectors such as education, infrastructure development, waste management and health.
He added that while it is more likely that medium to larger companies will make the first move into Africa in the coming years, there are still many opportunities for smaller companies to also enjoy a piece of the action there by banding together.
“It’s the basic concept of going in as a flock, and when you do this, you are able to spread your risks. That is how the smaller companies can benefit,” said Mr Shabbir. |
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