The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has touted its members’ expertise that could help solve some of the nagging challenges that inhibit businesses’ growth in the West Africa sub-region as well as the continent as a whole.
Speaking at its West Africa Regional Workshop attended by commercial attachés of embassies and consulates and representatives of businesses, Omar Khan, Director of International Offices of the Dubai Chamber said through an effective partnership businesses on the two sides of the divide stand the chance of maximizing their potential.
Mr. Khan said with over 200,000 companies, the expertise of the Dubai Chamber members are enormous, adding that some are primed to help overcome some of the bottlenecks companies within the African continent are saddled with.
According to him, one of the goals of the workshop was to interact with some of the key players in the respective business communities to know their peculiar business challenges as well as the opportunities that exist in those markets.
“We want to bridge the gap between members of the Dubai Chamber and partners here in the sub-region by making our members know what the requirements here are and also how they can establish partnerships here,” Mr. Khan said.
Since its establishment in January 2015, the Dubai Chamber West Africa’s regional office based in Ghana has initiated a number of activities aimed at establishing business relationship between companies in Dubai and its West African counterparts.
He said the proximity of Africa to Dubai is a huge advantage which harnessed could be very beneficial not only to businesses in the two regions but their respective economies, too.
For instance Dubai companies rather than look to Africa for the supply of some agricultural products, companies had to look to other countries in the Americas and Europe.
The proximity of Africa to Dubai is an advantage that could be explored if the existing gaps are overcome, he said.
Some of the challenges that inhibit local businesses relate to supply chain logistics and to demonstrate to Dubai’s readiness to deal with that challenge, Agility Logistics, a company with strong presence in Dubai, was invited to demonstrate its proficiency in handling such shortcomings.
“Most of the time we have buyers in Dubai who are willing…we have many companies in Africa with amazing products, however, there are certain gaps in knowhow, standards, logistics, supply chain etc that inhibit those companies,” he said.
Access to provide expansion capital is another pain point for local businesses and also represented was The Abraaj Group, a leading private equity firm operating in the growth markets of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Turkey.
Headquartered in Dubai with over 20 offices across these regions, Abraaj provides strategic, operational and financial support to its Partner Companies, helping to build them into regional champions.
“Abraaj remains highly committed to investing in the region and we are currently deploying a $990 million fund we raised for investing in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2015,” said Kwadwo Adjei-Barwuah, Director for Abraaj Ghana Advisers.
Mr. Khan stated that most of the factors constraining businesses on the continent are not unsurmountable although they are fueled by misconceptions about Africa’s businesses environment.
As Africa’s next door neighbor, he said, Dubai Chamber decided to establish its presence on the continent to have a firsthand understanding of what the continents challenges are and the opportunities that can be derived.
“This workshop was also aimed at creating awareness about the potential that exists for members of the Dubai Chamber as well as that of the African countries. We want people to know about Dubai, that is, its latest strategies so they can be a part of the success story.
Also, we intend communicating the opportunities and the gaps that exist in Africa to our 210, 000 members,” he added.
Mr. Khan added that the Chamber will follow up the regional workshop with other similar events such as road shows and trade missions to engage with potential partners.
As organisers of the Africa Global Business Forum Roadshow, an event held separately in the regional blocs of the continent, the Chamber is poised to organise the next event in 2017.
The forum, he said, will provide a bigger round table for the private sector and their Dubai counterparts to interact.