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20
dTZ | In Situ
Winds of change
The challenges in Africa
A new continent has now come on the radar of corporate
organisations. Traditionally, it was government bodies,
telecommunications and oil companies that were interested in
locating to Sub Saharan Africa, but now there is a large diversity
of requests indicating a true shift in occupier interests.
most corporates seem to start in Lagos, taking advantage of the
developed real estate market there and the ease of transport
links to europe, before leapfrogging across the rest of Africa.
Angola, Ghana and Kenya are also activity hotspots in Sub
Saharan Africa.
The reasons for this are varied. Perceived risk has reduced as
infrastructure and political governance has stabilised in some
geographies, although corruption is still an issue. occupiers are
now also creating their own sub markets, which other global
corporates are looking to service. Finally, and most promisingly
from a sustainability perspective, more and more occupiers are
entering these markets to service the local populous. This is not
an expat revolution.
however, with this come some real challenges. Just because the
volume of work has increased, it doesn’t make completions any
easier. The challenges can be broken down into the following
categories:
MArkeT OpACITy
Transactional evidence is notoriously difficult to come by in more
developed markets, and in those where there has been little
corporate activity, no benchmark has been set. cost reduction is
reliant on an excellent local contact network.
case in point: Gabon
•
Information can be very difficult to obtain here, with both a
language barrier for english speaking clients and an attitude
among local landlords of ‘come and meet me and I will let you
know the rent’. In-country research therefore becomes vital.
MArkeT IMMATurITy
Finding a third party who can deliver to corporate standards of
governance can be challenging in some geographies. As such,
it is often necessary to ‘parachute in’ qualified staff, whilst
coupling with a local contact. expect slow progress followed by
sudden frenetic bursts of activity.
case in point: monrovia
•
Information about market rental and sales is very limited and
‘hold their cards to their chest’ people interviewed within the
market are closed unless you have an actual acquisition or
disposal opportunity to offer
•
often, information is refused other than on a face-to-face
basis.
Investment into Sub-Saharan Africa markets has
fast become appealing for many global corporate
and private companies. Accessibility into these
frontier and emerging markets has improved over
many decades, but entry into these challenging
environments is not without its learning curves.
