Relocation business in Africa poised for growth

According to the OECD, there are more than 7 million expats in Africa. The main countries of origin include: France (2.8 million), USA (988,000), UK 833,000, USA, Spain (423,000) and Portugal (439,000). Overall, international migrants represent about 1.9% of the total population of Africa. While it is still difficult to obtain the exact number of expats per country, the main receiving countries include Algeria, Egypt, Botswana, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Senegal and Ghana.

Despite this large number of expatriates and international migrants, there is still very little support for relocation to the continent, a deficiency that is even more critical in countries where the tourism sector is not developed. And very few companies have a physical presence on the continent. Where it exists, in places like South Africa, Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia and Nigeria, the relocation market is highly segmented and it is still difficult to find a relocation provider that has the ability to provide full and comprehensive destination services to outgoing destinations and starters. assigned.

One area of ​​relocation services that has seen growth is real estate, as construction is booming on the continent to the point of becoming one of the most profitable business sectors, easily reaching a 20 percent rate of return. in unexpected cities like Dakar, Rwanda and Accra. Even then, in most cases it is loosely organized and operated by individual agents without a formal list in most mainland cities.

And yet, there is no other place where having support is more crucial for new expats given the nascent destination service sector coupled with cultural and language challenges that can definitely impact a transferee’s ability to settle down and be productive. .

Part of what is at stake is the belief that Africa is largely underdeveloped without modern conveniences and that expats who go to Africa are rugged adventurers who need little help and can fend for themselves. After all, why would they choose to go to Africa? There is also the business view (largely incorrect, as movers tend to jack up the price of shipments to the mainland by making huge profit margins) that there is little money to be made in the relocation and moving business. These misconceptions hold back potential business expansions and make assignees wary of moving to the mainland. Worse yet, in the realm of international development, these misconceptions prevent Africa from benefiting from the best minds who instead choose to offer their e-services to developing countries in Latin America and Europe.

The story of Africa needs to be constantly retold to balance the views Westerners and even Africans have of it (I’ll always remember black South Africans referring to me and a friend as “Africans” after soccer practice, which provoked a strong reprimand and a cultural rejection). lesson from us!). To begin with, it is good to remember that it is a continent with 53 countries with incredible diversity, often within the same country, Cameroon is a good example with more than 200 different languages ​​and it is a large-scale representation of the different ones. fauna that includes a desert, a savannah, and a rainforest! And although there are many things that should be fixed, the good story about Africa includes the following facts:

• Several African countries (eg, Ghana, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Rwanda) rank higher than the BRIC countries for ease of doing business and corporate governance.

• Africa has 36% of the world’s emerging market countries, 30% of the mineral resources and will have 20% of the world’s population by 2050, but receives only 4% of foreign direct investment (FDI).

• Africa, in relative terms, was more resilient than most other emerging countries (not to mention developing countries) in the recent global recession.

• Africa has had the highest growth rate of private FDI in emerging markets since 2004 and is expected to increase to 22% in 2010

• Africa has $980 billion in infrastructure requirements over the next 10 years (including energy and telecommunications).

• The profitability of foreign companies in Africa has been consistently higher than in most other regions of the world, reports the UNCTAD study.

Since 1990, the rate of return on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa has averaged 29%, and since 1991 it has been higher than in all other regions, in many years by a factor of two.

All of this led Jens Schleuniger, fund manager of Deutsche Bank DWS Invest Africa LC, to say in an interview with Reuter. that Africa’s potential is so great that investors should prefer it to China because its stocks are significantly undervalued. According to him, “few know that Africa is the second most dynamic growth region behind Asia,” he said. Although, as many admit, there is a lack of confidence as many investors place too much importance on political risks. I think this is partly exaggerated.”

As International Monetary Fund (IMF) Senior Africa Adviser David Nellor noted in a report last September, sub-Saharan Africa today resembles Asia in the 1980s. “The private sector is the key driver,” Nellor wrote, “and the financial markets are opening up.” The war is over. Democracy is up. Inflation and interest rates are in the single digits. The terms of trade have improved.

For those who still doubt my sense of optimism about the mainland, you should have tea with the Chinese and find out what drives their enthusiasm for the mainland. While the old superpowers still agonize over Africa’s poverty, China is captivated by its riches. Trade between Africa and China has grown an average of 30% in the last decade, topping $106 billion last year. Chinese engineers are at work across the continent, extracting copper in Zambia and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and drilling for oil in Angola. “We will continue to have a vigorous aid program here, and Chinese companies will continue to invest as much as possible,” Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in South Africa in January. “It’s a win-win solution.”

In general, Africa’s wealth, current economic growth, coupled with its economic potential, are well suited to an increased need for information, support and moving and relocation services necessary for smooth relocation and work efficiency.