Copy
Participation in GABS

africon brought 7 clients to the Germn-African Business Summit in Nairobi

With a team of six colleagues, africon was present at the German-African Business Summit in Nairobi beginning of February 2017. The conference was organized by the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (SAFRI), the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA) and the German-African Business Association (AV) and the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Kenya and could attract more than 400 participants from Germany and Africa.

africon has been very proud having convinced seven of our clients to join the conference listen to the high-level discussions. We could introduce them not only to decision takers from all over Africa, but also the networking and exchange of experiences among our clients and other conference delegates took place in a very pleasant and fruitful atmosphere.

Beside the conference our team members accompanied our clients to individual business meetings which we had arranged in advance. The site visits to the local players and manufacturers as well as the individual discussions with potential distribution partners could bring an added-value to each of our clients beyond the conference itself. 
 

Launch of the new Azuri plant


Sonja Mattfeld inaugurates the new Dried Mango production plant

In 2013, German trade fair Messe Dusseldorf and SAVE FOOD initiative hired africon, to perform research on the Kenyan food market. The study revealed a dramatic statistic: 300,000 tons of the mango harvest is lost because the fruits are not picked in time or cannot be processed quickly enough.

After an analysis of the reasons of losses and a deep insight into the Kenyan mango sector and its few processing techniques (mango pulp, mango juice, dried mangoes), africon together with Messe Dusseldorf and committed members of the SAVE FOOD initiative formed an active group and chose the Kenyan company Azuri Health Ltd. as their local partner in actually tackling the problem and invest in the niche market of dried mangoes.

This year on 8th February Azuri Health could, as a result of the successful business implementation, open a bigger production plant. Here, the production staff doubled from 5 to 10 persons and additional 25 casual workers during the peak production periods. Also, in terms of production capacity, the new plant evaluated to from 2 to 10 tons of dried mango per month.

Sonja Mattfeld, Partner at africon and Project Manager of “The Mango Project” was invited to hold a speech and cut the ribbon at the inauguration of the new plant. Just as was Dr. Clemens Schütte, Director of International Business at Messe Düsseldorf, a long standing partner of africon and “The Mango Project”.

Tei Mukunya, Founder and CEO of Azuri, states: “The Mango project is indeed the much awaited solution. They came to Kenya asked the right questions and realized what was needed.” 

 

Slide of the month


Segmentation of the Nigerian sanitary market

The slide of the month is a way of contribution to a regular information about the African continent and market. Here, africon wants to share latest topics of the African business as a result of our research. So, investors and interested parties can stay informed and get relevant market insights.

The slide of the month January showed that Western Africa is a very active region for hotel development. The rise of the construction sector also drives the need of interior design and sanitary products. Two third of the total Nigerian turnover in sanitary products come from retail business. Only one third of the products are sold in construction projects such as hotels or office buildings. Whereas, when it comes to high-end class, the ratio changes and project business dominates the selling of sanitary and interior decor. Key to success in Nigeria is the identification of key players.

The segmentation of the Nigerian market illustrated by the sanitary sector is typical for Africa. Small distributors and unofficial markets dominate. Still, africon sees an opportunity for large contracts in high-end projects. A successful market entry must cover the whole distribution chain.
africon team meeting in Kenya

Meeting with the whole team from five countries

December 8-11th was marked as the first africon team meeting since its registration and change of ownership with Marc-Peter Zander and Sonja Mattfeld as the founding partners of africon GmbH.
The team meeting was held in Kenya, one of the countries that africon operates. The team meeting was necessitated by a number of key developments in the company that had since inception, established itself as one of the leading European management consulting firms with a sole focus on Africa. Key among them was announcement of the board of advisors who were uniquely selected for their expertise, knowledge and contribution on various development and commercial aspects in Africa. The blend of knowledge brought by the board is a statement of africon’s strategy and positioning for the African market. The other key highlight was also to recognize the diverse team that africon employs across the many countries it works in while delivering projects for its clients and evidently so, africon’s footprint in Africa is growing by the day and so is the team.

The setting for the team meeting was 90 kilometers away from the hustle and bustle of the capital city, in the cool of Lake Naivasha. The scenic location was breathtaking and insightful enough to bring forth fresh strategies for the coming years. The refreshing environment shared with hippos roaming freely at night, waterbucks and zebras feeding leisurely in the expansive lawns did not deter the team from a day of critical thinking and evaluation of our mission, vision, values, culture and targets as individuals and as an organization.

On the last day of the three day event, as we enjoyed the awesome views of Lake Naivasha at the Crescent Island, we all hoped that the mandate ahead of us would be a walk in the park. As a motivated team hopped back to the boat, we looked forward to building bridges for Africa to the rest of the World.
 
Vision and Mission

As a rapidly growing company we reviewed our mission vision
 
After six years of existence of our company, africon’s long-term strategy needed to be redefined. That was done in the beginning of 2017, including consultancy of an external specialist. For this, the africon management first defined a new vision from the own company and described in the guideline ‘Bridging Potentials’.

Bridging for us means building bridges – with Africa, the rest of the world and within the continent. We connect companies, ideas, projects as well as people and offer them a bridge to develop their potentials together in cooperation with us.

We believe in the African potential. These potentials are in the connection to and from Africa as well as within the continent. Potentials are defined for us as all possibilities to create an added value. Those can be personal as well as financial added values. With enthusiasm, we search, discover and promote these potentials.

The mission of africon as a company and each member of the team is to become the leading European consulting company delivering solutions for Africa to companies worldwide by 2030.
Our first step will be achieved in 5 years as a short-term goal. In 2022, we strive to be a leading European consulting company delivering solutions for Africa to companies in our key markets. Our solutions include market research, developing strategies and local implementation with our representations in key African markets. Using our networks and hands-on approach we create tailor-made solutions together with our customers. Our added value is the reduction of time, costs and risk.

Our staff is highly motivated. They are the trusted partners of their customers. The international and local teams are specialized and understand the African markets. A key factor of motivation is our company culture.

Our owners take an active role in the business. We grow constantly, profit oriented and are financially independent.

This is how we bridge potentials.
 
Welcoming Aneth Herman to africon

Aneth Herman joins the africon team beginning from February 2017

Miss Aneth Herman took Bachelor degree in Business administration, then followed by master of science in marketing. She has been teaching marketing courses at St. Augustine university and also had part time teaching at Jomo Kenyatta University in Arusha. Three years back, she was doing marketing consultation for small businesses. From July to early September 2016, Miss Aneth Herman joined africon team on a very successful projects organizing and arranging meetings for a German business delegation that visited  Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Beginning from 2017, Miss Herman will be based in Arusha Tanzania supporting the africon team on projects in East Africa.

References

More africon clients can be found on the website

2016 has been a very successful year for africon. Various projects have been leaded by our team consulting companies on their Africa strategies. As a result of our success, our client’s list has been growing continuously. That also traduces into an important portfolio presented on our website. For further information about africon and its projects please have a look on http://www.africon.de/projects/.
Copyright © 2017 africon GmbH, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp