IT & Telecom

Sweden wants corporates to start dating Mozambique

africasc_admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:51:22 -0600

Who would think, 20 years ago, that a Swedish export promotion office would bother about Mozambique, one of the worlds poorest countries?

At the time the division between Swedish aid officials and Swedish exporters was notoriously sharp. A sort of Cold War situation right in the midst of the Swedish Government. A reflexion of the division of interest among Swedes - many would argue at the expense of what was good for Mozambique.

But, now, in a fast changing world, with old school aid being loosened up and mixed up with business interests, it is finally happening. A trade seminar on Mozambique is being held by the Swedish Trade Council in South Africa to promote business in one of Africa's fastest, albeit from a very low level, growing economies.

"In 2010, Mozambique outperformed its neighbors as the economy grew by 8,1%. Further high growth and heavy inflow of foreign aid and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) is expected to foster infrastructure development and create opportunities for Swedish suppliers of goods and services. Mining and Agriculture are heavily expanding sectors that drive the economy and promote major investments also in the Energy, ICT and Transport sectors", the Swedish Trade Council, led by Håkan Bengtsson, writes in its invitational online brochure.

On the country to country level figures are also rosy, Swedish trade rose by 36 % during the first six months of 2011, but yet again, it is all from a very low level: Swedish Export in 2010 stood at 57 Mkr which is 0.01 % of Sweden's total export.

So which trade strategist in his or her right mind would bother about that kind of minnow? Waste of time?

The Swedish Trade Council doesn't think so, partially as it has promotion money from the Swedish Development Agency Sida to build a partnership with Mozambique. And as a good consultancy, Swedish trade councils are dependent on external consultancy incomes, it does what it is paid for.

If Swedish business will be interested remains to be seen. Former Swedish Ambassador's to Mozambique and the country's Government have always had a bit of an uphill struggle to get Swedish companies to Mozambique.

Its understandable that those who are selling consumer- and industrial goods haven't been overexcited. Mozambique's economy is indeed miniscule compared with its big brother South Africa. And it is fraught with corruption and byzantine commercial law. Buying property in Mozambique is to this day a no no. If yo don't want to get involved in years of legal wrangling that finally only will get you a a 99-year leasehold at the best. On top of that Swedish export companies are quite well updated on Mozambique through their regional offices in South Africa.

However what has been evident and well known among Swedes who have operated in Mozambique is that the country is bursting with fabulous mostly unexploited wealth - it is all well recorded and has been know way back to the Sixties when a large amount of feasibility studies were done.

While some Swedish companies, in particular ABB since it built Cahora Bassa in the Sixties, have kept its eyes wide open most have not bothered to go there. A civil war - fueled by apartheid South Africa - that raged up until the early Nineties, natural- and man made disasters leading to desperate poverty, was just not a very attractive mix for exporters.

But the situation has changed quite dramatically. Mozambique has picked up and is reestablishing itself. Infrastructure is being repaired. Regional trade- and investment from South Africa has given the country a new boost. And on top of that, most importantly, emerging economies in the South - China, India, Brazil - are showing a very active interest in Mozambique.

Some would say the comparative advantage Sweden had when it financed a large chunk of Mozambique's development budget has been lost. Sweden could have cherry picked among Mozambique's vast natural assets such as coal, gas, hydropower, agriculture and water resources, has been blown.

Other donors have been more pro-active. Britain even under Thatcher was a big donor to Mozambique. And some British companies, such as British Sugar, have benefitted and invested in vast sugar plantations.

Others would say 'its never too late'. And in today's situation Mocambiques growing economy is more suitable for advanced Swedish products and services - Swedish export is not very well tuned to deal with exploitation of natural resources.

A new cosy feeling for Mozambique is evident. You can't just sit back and do nothing as South-South trade is growing by leaps and bounds. So in that sense Mozambique has finally arrived. It is no longer seen as a hopeless aid basket case.

For old Swedish aid hands. all those thousands of Swedes who have worked in Mozambique over the past 30 years this should be good news. And Swedish business could make good use of them.

The Sweden-Mozambique trade seminar, moderated by Swedish Ambasador Ulla Andren and trade commissioner Håkan Bengtsson, is held on 1 December in Johannesburg. From the Mozambican side a number of representatives of 'key' ministries - energy, Infrastructure, agriculture and mining - are presenting their case.

(More info from Olov.hemstrom@swedisthrade.se and and karin.bolin@foreign.ministry.se )

Rebtel doubles sales to Africa

africasc_admin — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 06:26:35 -0600

Swedish low cost telephone company Rebtel reports SEK 270 million in
sales for the year, 100 % increase year-to-year. The bulk of the
company's sales comes from immigrants from Africa and Asia - in
particular from India - who are using Rebtels cheap rates to bypass
international connection and roaming rates. Rebtel uses an automated
callback system to help fixed- and mobile users phone directly via IP
redirection. Rebtel competes with Skype's and other IP based operators
pay services.

Millicom thinks there is more money to be made from deregulation in Africa

africasc_admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:37:05 -0500

Over the past three years Millicom, the mainly Africa based mobile operator, has become the most valuable part of the Swedish Kinnevik group of companies.

This represents an ironic historical twist as one of the last major actions by the groups deceased founder Jan Stenbeck was to get the heck out of Africa after he'd become tired of black empowerment, cheating and heavy losses in his South African media investments during the Nineties.

As late as two years ago the groups strategy was to dress up the bride and give her a way to the highest bidding suitor. Discussions with China Telecom and others fell through on the issue of price.

Millicom's success in Africa inspired other parts of the group, such as Viasat and television format subsidiaries to scout around and find opportunities on the continent. This was possible partly by piggybacking on Millicom's network. One of the ventures is a new television channel in Ghana. One of Jan Stenbeck's children has also set up a philantrophic arm, with a project in Tanzania.

The Kinnevik investments in Africa are that of a small- to medium sized player. The main asset, with potential to grow further in Africa, is Millicom. Unlike most other Western based IT- and telecom investors Millicom and its parent company have offloaded its investments in Asia and instead focused on Africa. The assets in Asia - Cambodia and Sri Lanka - were sold recently for $ 800 million. Instead Millicom is investing in Rwanda.

Millicom is a not a Serie A player in Africa and is not aiming at that. But the company's assets are becoming increasingly valuable through strategic management and growth. The Serie A teams, be it MTN, Vodaphone or Barthi, will sooner feel the need to put in an offer. Or another Indian- or Chinese player with deep pockets and large ambitions - will come in.

What Kinnevik has figured out is that the route taken by Millicom is a route well worth following by other subsidiaries. They are all benefitting from deregulation, privatisation and the fast growth of African middle- and consumer classes. In a way the sort of strategy that got Kinnevik going in its home market Sweden in the first place during the Eighties.

While most multinationals are entering South Africa and then takes on Africa, the Kinnevik way have been to go for deregulation and if that didn't work it would pack up and go. That's what Jan Stenbeck did in South Africa, when he first lost out on a television license and then was dragged through a fair amount of black empowerment mud before he furiously cut his losses after clocking up close to SEK 100 million in investments that all went down the drain.

Kinnevik has made it in Africa but there is no reason why the company in a reversed kind of way would re-enter South Africa. At least not for as long as deregulation combined with new technology opportunities continues to be a core component in the company's strategy.

A-scan's Publisher Christer L. Pettersson has followed the fate of Kinnevik in Africa over the past two decades.

Ericsson sales halved in Southern Africa as markets are maturing

africasc_admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:25:54 -0500

Ericsson is sending its expats packing in Africa and the good times seems to be over, for the time being. The company's Africa divisions sales has halved, the company's CEO reports as the sub-continents operators sales have dropped.

South Africa to re-open controversial ZAR 5 billion ID card tender - foot in the door for Speed Identity

africasc_admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:17:04 -0500

South Africa’s Home Affairs Director General Mavuso Msimang last week cancelled a national ID card tender, believed to be worth more than ZAR 5 billion, after confidential information had been leaked from Sita, the IT industry authority, to competitors. Sita's CEO resigned in January following allegations of irregularities. The move could give Swedish passport and ID enrolment company Speed Identity a shot at a portion of the massive deal.

Speed Identity participated in the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s and Trade Minister Ewa Björling’s delegation to South Africa and Namibia earlier this month. The company was a sponsor, indicating that the company wants to impress on South Africa's decision makers.

“We were interested to test what can come out of this”, commented Magnus Svenningsson, Speed Identity’s Vice President.

The cancellation move by the SA Government certainly could help Speed Identity and other late comers to set themselves up and see if they can find a way in - the previous process closed in May 2007.

The chances are certainly there. South Africa is in the midst of cleaning up Department of Home Affairs. The issuing of new ID cards have been delayed for more than ten years due to inefficiency and widespread corruption at Home Affairs.

Another Swedish ID card company, ID Kort Säkerhetstryck, was involved in the first ID card tender, aborted back in 1999. ID Kort also lost out on a drivers license tender that was awarded to a company linked to SA President Jacob Zuma’s former financial Advisor Schabir Shaik.

Speed Identity offers a fully integrated platform for biometric data capture including mechanics, hardware and software. The systems are installed at authorities and at embassies where it captures and processes face recognition, signatures, fingerprints and iris recognition.

Speed Identity can boost that it in the midst of rolling out 200 live enrolment booths at Migration Board offices and all Swedish embassies across the world.

In Africa the booths are placed at at 12 Swedish embassies from Pretoria to Cairo.

Speed Identity’s process could be highly interesting for South Africa as the company offers on-the-spot capture which minimizes human involvement and makes it very difficult to fraudulently link multiple identity cards to one person.

False documentation – with the assistance by corrupt Home Affairs bureaucrats - has cost South African taxpayers billions in illegal payouts of social grants and pensions alone.

The South African government is itself in the forefront of biometric technology use. Government has already, in an explicit campaign to eliminate fraud, embarked on a biometric identification process to create a unified database for the country’s population – the so called HANIS, the Home Affairs National Identification System, will ultimately include all identification processes national ID documents, drivers’ licenses, passports, birth- and marriage certificates and work permits.

Already some 10 million social grant recipients have been issued biometric identity documents.

Kapsch-TrafficCom a step closer to win landmark tender

africasc_admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:55:00 -0500

Jönkoping based Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been shortlisted and the signs are good that the company will pass the post and can then become the first Swedish company in ten years to win a multi-billion rand tender from the South African government. The decision on the BOT contract is imminent, depending on if all regulatory issues have been adhered to in the decision.

Kapsch TrafficCom has partnered with a South African Black Economic
Empowerment partner to win the tender for the new electronic toll collection
system the country’s national roads authority SANRAL wants to install. Another partner, South African toll road operator Tolcon is part of the tender, where the main competitors are from France/Spain and Italy.

The new electronic toll collection system will be a modern one – an open
road tolling system, meaning that cars will not have to stop at toll booths
in order to pay the fee.

The local partner, TMT, is a local specialist in enforcement of traffic
violations.

The BOT contract will run for eight years before it will be handed over to
the authorities.

Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been operating in South Africa for the past 10
years, and has during that time, among other things, installed smaller toll
projects in Durban and Cape Town.

Kapsch-TraffiCom a step closer to win landmark tender in South Africa

africasc_admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:27:00 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Jönkoping based Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been shortlisted and the signs are good that the company will pass the post and become the first Swedish company in ten years to win a multi-billion rand tender from the South African government. The decision on the BOT contract is imminent, depending on if all regulatory issues have been adhered to in the decision.

Kapsch TrafficCom has partnered with a South African Black Economic Empowerment partner to win the tender for the new electronic toll collection system the country’s national roads authority SANRAL wants to install. Another partner, South African toll road operator Tolcon is part of the tender, where the main competitors are from Spain and Italy.

The new electronic toll collection system will be a modern one – an open road tolling system, meaning that cars will not have to stop at toll booths in order to pay the fee.

The local partner, TMT, is a local specialist in enforcement of traffic violations.

The BOT contract will run for eight years before it will be handed over to the authorities.

Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been operating in South Africa for the past 10 years, and has during that time, among other things, installed smaller toll projects in Durban and Cape Town.

With a seven percent growth in the traffic volumes per annum in South Africa's roads the winner of the tender is expected to claw back and make a very handsome profit by the time the BOT contract expires.

FIFA selects Swedish technology

africasc_admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:00:01 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. FIFA has selected tracking technology developed by Swedish Tracab to monitor, record and analyse every run, pass, shot and save at the Confederations Cup, currently under way in South Africa, and next year’s FIFA World Cup.

It's the first time that world football’s governing body has deployed a tracking system at its major tournaments and is an indication of the growing importance of data and data rights around football, the company said.

The Confederations Cup - which features the champions of each FIFA Confederation plus World Champions Italy - is a dress-rehearsal for next year’s World Cup.

Seamless gets African order

africasc_admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:37:36 -0500

Seamless has received a significant order of prepaid Top Up and VAS features on the ERS 360° software platform for the dominating mobile operator in a sub Sahara country, the Swedish company announced.

The company said it can't publish the name of the customer, or the order value, for competative reasons, at this time.

Seamless is a software company specialized in solutions for prepaid Top Up, m-Payments and money transfer through mobile phones. The software platform ERS 360° connects mobile operators to retail chains, banks, web portals, and remitters, as a hub for transactions.

Seamless signs ‘Mollet’ agreement

africasc_admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:05:20 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Swedish Seamless has signed an agreement for its Mobile Moneysolution, The Mollet™. The system will enable the citizens in an undisclosed West African country to receive money directly into mobile phones via international remittance. They will then be able to send money between mobiles and pay in shops from a mollet (Mobile Wallet).

“With our product The Mollet™, our customer will be able to roll-out services for monetary transactions to people who don’t have access to traditional banking services” says CEO Rohit Bhatia. “We believe that such mass availability of banking services will enable economic livelihoods and social relationships between geographically split families.”