New strategy caters for rising consumerism

12 Nov 2014 - by Staff reporter

Last month saw the rollout
of Imperial Logistics’
Africa Strategy around
consumerisation designed
to “enable clients’ African growth
and expansion while minimising
their risks and the continent’s
complexities,” said the logistics major.
“The strategy was sparked
by dialogues with leading
multinationals aiming to benefit
from the consumerisation of Africa,”
said Imperial’s Africa division
CEO Dougie Truter. “Through
conversations at the highest level
– with manufacturers and brand
owners in the pharmaceutical,
FMCG and
general retail
sectors –
Imperial’s Africa
strategy was
conceived, with
regional cluster
thinking as one of
its cornerstones.”
Truter noted
that Africa’s
consumerfacing
industries
were expected to grow by over
US$400 billion by 2020 and global
companies were increasingly setting
their sights on Africa. “Along with
the opportunities, however, come
challenges and risks,” he said. “There
is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to the
African consumer or the African
market. Distinct consumer segments
exist, with significant variation by
country. The legal systems are as
varied as the languages spoken.
Cash presents risks and challenges.
The complexity of doing business in
Africa cannot be overemphasised.”
Truter cited the example of a
multinational
aiming to grow
in Africa, but
having to deal
with hundreds of
small distributors
spread across a
host of countries,
and expecting
from them the
same governance
and control as
they would have with a large, worldclass
distributor.
Imperial’s strategy aims to
simplify business in Africa for
its customers by offering a total
end-to-end value proposition that
can deliver world class service,
standards, governance and control.
Outlining the development of the
Africa strategy, Truter noted that it
had begun with transport companies
in South Africa that offered crossborder
services. From this more
traditional transport-based service,
Imperial expanded its service
offering with distributor capabilities.
“We moved into Africa’s consumer
market with the acquisition of CIC
Holdings, through which we are now
operating extensively within
the FMCG industry. Our
service offering includes
distributorships,
merchandising,
warehousing, distribution,
debtors’ administration
and staffing solutions.”
Imperial’s Pan-African
strategy focuses on Nigeria
and Ghana in West Africa
and on eight East
African countries –
namely Kenya, Tanzania,
Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi,
Ethiopia, South Sudan and
Somalia. Truter said: “In East Africa,
Kenya is our operations base since
many multinationals have African
head offices and manufacturing
facilities there. In addition to this, its
Port of Mombasa is a gateway to East
Africa. In West Africa, our focus is
on acquiring good infrastructure.”