Achieving Business Impact in Sub-Saharan Africa workshop brought together specialists from business, public, non-governmental and research organizations to discuss about the future business and collaboration opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Discussion was organized around nine themes: urbanization, water management, education, financial services, collaboration in Africa, mobile Africa, energy, health and adding higher local value.

1. Business with Impact – BEAM Summary Report of Future Watch Session
Impact in Africa – Achieving Business Impact in Sub-Saharan Africa
Prepared by Frost & Sullivan

2. Contents
Summary Overview of Workshop Process
Summary Findings of Working Groups
Summary of Key Collective Findings & Recommendations
Last Word: Personal Commentary from Mani James
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3. Overview of Process
Having had the benefit of a keynote presentation by Mani James from Frost & Sullivan, and commentary and presentations from other stakeholders including Esa Rantanen from Finpro, Petri Allekotte from Aalto University, Jari Tammisto from Mobile Monday , Aki Koivistoinen from Dazzle Oy, Aapo Aittola from mfore, and Jussi Hirkkanen from Fuzu Oy, delegates had a substantive overview of the opportunities open to them in Africa, and the challenges and requirements to access such potential growth areas.
Participants were then divided into working groups along the nature of the themes identified.
Each group had a facilitator from one of Tekes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Frost & Sullivan to support it.
In the workshop process, the first part was focused on identification and validation of the opportunities each working group saw as important. This was supported by a structured approach that asked them to answer the following questions:
What are the growth opportunities for your sector / theme ? Product or service ?
Where are the growth hotspots in SSA ? Cities, countries and regions ?
When do you expect these growth opportunities to come on stream ? Short, medium and long term?
Why do you consider SSA as the next big opportunity?
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4. Overview of Process (cont.)
In the second part of the workshop process, each working group was asked the question on how they would address such opportunities. For this, they were guided by certain questions:
How will you proceed to tackle the opportunities highlighted in the previous section ?
Quick wins ? – What are the key next steps ?
What are the requirements of a successful market entry or service impact ?
Can NGOs and Private Sector support each other?
List the support that would be required from the Government ?
The final step in the process was for each group to present back to the forum its key findings and recommendations.
This document contains the summary of each of these working group’s results, and our summary of key common findings and issues highlighted , with recommendations as appropriate.
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5. Contents
Summary Overview of Workshop Process
Summary Findings of Working Groups
Summary of Key Collective Findings & Recommendations
Last Word: Personal Commentary from Mani James
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6. Urbanisation
What Does this include ? Food; Educational (Practical/Vocational); Water; Internet (IoT); Sanitation; Planning Services; Infrastructure; Safety; Transport/Logistics; Mobility; Waste recycling; Packaging; Electricity; Information Services; Cloud Services; etc
Where? Formal market; The Finnish Advantage is being a small country with powerful neighbours; Not following others (because of financial resource issues); 5 Countries prioritised; Nigeria; Kenya; Horn of Africa (all countries); Use on the ground partnership processes
How? Working with NGOs on the ground; Local partnerships; Local networks of people from Africa in Finland; Local presence; Remove hesitation in terms of Finnish companies; Working closely with Government & TEAM Finland; Educating stakeholders (government and private); Develop Products locally; Utilise Students from Africa
Support: (1) too fragmented re information; (2) Provide Aid given directly to NGO/SME; (3) Coordinated Effort from Agencies; (4) Embassy Support to be focused (5) Event to promote Finish businesses; (6) It is difficult dealing with bureaucracy and governments particularly in the early stages
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7. Urbanization: Water & Wastewater
Opportunity is Huge across all timeframes
Competitive Positioning: Finland’s USP in niche areas
Measuring & Monitoring + Mobile Solutions
Sludge Processing (energy solutions)
Other solutions for Sanitation
Key Success Factors:
Find key Partners:
Find Local players in Africa with influence and co-creation is essential
Work alongside Swedish & Danish organisations as well: new models of co-operation needed
Finance : if BEAM were to support local NGO’s this would make the program fly
Finance is a key issue: this has to be fully researched
Cooperation Platforms to support such processes are critical
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8. Mobile Africa
What to focus on was identified as health, payments (e.g. prepaid), education, governance, and security applications. Identification of Urban & Countryside segments
It would be wise to start from the most accessible markets (e.g. Kenya, Tanzania) driven by English language skills, addressability, etc. The opportunity was viewed as immediate.
The driver was a great potential waiting to be exploited e.g. under 25’s forming the majority of the population, the need for learning and entertainment applications (upcoming) and huge educational demands for girls.
How to access the market would be via creation of an ecosystem and value chains, both in Finland & Africa, and in co-creation & open-source being used as tools
The Next Steps were : create living pilots for references and further development, scaling and roadmap for next locations with a key requirement to have paying customers as the end users.
Recommendations: (1) At a societal level create organised industrial groups , and (2) separately Company & Consortium value chains, and ecosystems case by case . (3) Get financing for ecosystem business model and product development and (4) do targeted market surveys for Solutions and (5) Partnership facilitation & Funding plus also (6) Connect to international organisations (e.g. UNESCO) and to local authorities & Decision Makers.
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9. Africa (Collabo)rising
1. Market demand; Africa is a continent full of opportunities - Demand for business from large infrastructure projects to co-creation within the BoP context
2. Timing; The right time is now (or it was already yesterday as all other players are already there)
3. Business with impact is business and technology with economic, social and environmental relevance and aspects included
4. Financing; Financing for innovations and patents very important
5. The model of co-creation and piloting to be supported financially
6. Local partnership involvement throughout the processes
In addition, some case studies and concrete examples were presented.
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10. Africa (Collabo)rising (2)
Growth opportunities: More could be done in the field of agricultural foodchains in Africa (distribution channels need solutions); Safe living environment and the need for holistic approach; how to create new services (franchise) in the field of capacity building (like the knowledge of cooperatives in Finland) and find opportunities to bring good Finnish know how to local markets; waste management; craft and design; ICT and empowerment of women; Space for Africa (AU context).
How to tackle opportunities: Important to know well the local needs; co-creation approach and multi-stakeholder approach is beneficial in the situations where we need to know more about the needs e.g. safe living environment as a theme; and what kind of inputs are needed. It is important to know the value chain and how to transform aid into trade so that it is beneficial. The question of social enterprises was raised. There are e.g. Dutch and American social enterprises in Africa. In different countries the legislations vary as to the social enterprises.
Support needed: Support networking ( need to spread information of already existing TF- services) ; flexible co-funding needed ; clear financing schemes to help with the platform for Diaspora Africans and enterprises.
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11. Health and Well being
Opportunities: virtual training; M-health, especially for remote areas, but also for urban areas; Health prevention; Diagnostic services or training; Train the trainer e.g. in laboratory sector, health sector vocational. Identify USP e.g. Health Spa Movement
Targets: Mega cities are the first target as for many applications internet connection is required, sms applications exist for health solutions. Target countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda. Burundi in general as president is pro-technology.
Growth opportunities are short and medium term
How to tackle the Opportunities:
Finding a local partner is the key: Sales partner/ distributor who knows the local operating environment. This kind of cooperation partner could bring access to the required local network
Public/private hospital (depends on the local health care system)
Insurance companies (depends on the local social security system)
Local NGO
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12. Health and Well being (cont.)
Quick Wins/Next Steps: there was a question raised from the small size of this group: which means that there should be more awareness creation about the market opportunities and BEAM within the sector.
This should include clustering and networking with Finnish and Nordic companies & organizations
•Requirements for successful market entry: Local NGO might be a good partner in order to get to the grassroots level. It can be challenging to get nurses to test a solution/application, as they have hands full and it is not part of their job. Informal channels can be beneficial.
•Support required from the Government:
Company clustering, company activation. Listing Finnish expertise and presenting it on different markets to find out where is interest.
Financial path (help in understanding the funding opportunities and how to get it)
Instruments suitable for SME’s and start-ups that cannot fund the activity first and only get subsidy afterwards.
Self-funding requirement (often 50%) is also a problem for many companies.
Local network.
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13. Energy
Opportunity: everywhere
Growth opportunities: solutions for big cities renewables as well as efficient fossil use, smart grid issues
Renewable energy: small scale off grid solutions in bioenergy, solar and small scale wind, controlling systems how to use these in most efficient way, renewable energy for telecom towers
Waste to Energy: waste management, biodiesel and bioethanol from industrial waste
The market is available now
There are no quick wins just good luck and right timing
New Business Models Key
Find right partners which you can trust
Active networking, do together
Finance Structure Important, financing not only for innovatiuons but also for demos and first commercial operations
Information, also silent signals from the market
Follow up
Be flexible
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14. Education (Group 1)
Key Areas to focus on : Curriculum Development ;Training of Trainers; Human Rights; Learning Methods
Why: Quality of education is an issue; promoting of education increasing; Access to education a challenge; Learning from each other an important part of the process; and a different level- systemic mapping: assessing the needs
Gather the Expertise in Finland: Learning by doing; Competence based learning; Curriculum design; Educational structures; Training of the trainers
Opportunities Identified: Vocational Education; Teacher training; School equipment; Post- conflict areas ; E-learning & Virtual learning
How to tackle: (1) International actors; (2) Locate Funding; (3) How to create the School System: (4) need to know who has been doing what from Finland to Africa; (5) Integrating development work and business to work together; (6) This can be coordinated by BEAM ; (7) Concern on how to make this work financially.
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15. Education (Group 1) (cont.)
The opportunity: demand exists right now across Africa, especially young population in fast growing nations, both long-term and short-term perspectives. For improving the education system, structural changes at different levels needed, but there is plenty of room for market-led solutions. Education for what though? For example energy, food security, urbanisation, water, infrastructure, ICT, so linked to and intertwined with other priorities. Huge need for vocational training, not necessarily university-level education: schooling fails to meet industry needs - curriculums need to be redesigned, apprenticeship training, cooperation with businesses, mentoring etc. TVET being expanded in many countries, but providers need to be capacitated to perform better – financing and expertise, teacher training needed. Delivery of education / learning: eLearning / mLearning / edutech as an opportunity - utilising Finnish expertise in novel ways
Economic development takes place in cities, but cannot forget needs of rural areas and need for quality education there – high quality, accessible and low cost?
Also: crisis areas, post-conflict and fragile states need attention, children out of school, humanitarian aid does not meet educational needs, especially primary education! Monetising education is not easy – in Finland the private sector has a limited role. So partnering with locals, including NGOs crucial, diaspora
Needed: review of lessons learned; platforms for connecting / clustering different actors together; partnership-building; Seed funding for innovation; Co-creation and pilots; PR and promotion; Does not need to be a perfect concept, but good enough
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16. Education (Group 2)
Growth opportunities: Young and aspirational population – average age around 18; Potentially 300 Million unskilled and undereducated people entering adulthood over the coming decade – we need to act now. The need for context sensitive vocational education is growing rapidly as increased investments and urbanization accelerate formalization of the economy. Finnish vocational education system has great traditions and reputation. Finnish players are agile and able to form working collaboration frameworks across multiple players.
Opportunity areas 1. consultation, 2. pedagogic reforms, 3. educational content and certification, 4. content and learning platforms, 5. life long learning
Growth hotspots: Following criteria should be used for selecting markets: Existing Finnish networks and partnerships on the ground; Maturity of the market; Match with Finnish skills and capabilities. Based on these criteria, following countries/areas are suggested: East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda); West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria); Southern Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia)
Why SSA as the next big opportunity? SSA is moving into right direction and that market is becoming mature enough for business interventions; Socio-economic indicators (population growth, etc.) demonstrate that there is great urgency in fixing the education to employment challenge; SSA is one of the last global regions where large scale formalization of the economy will take place over the coming decades; Finland has a great reputation in Africa and as a neutral player possibility to win its competitors.
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17. Education (Group 2) (cont.)
How to tackle the opportunities: More on the ground research is required about the needs, right operating models, sell-in channels (i.e. who are the customers and how we will reach them); We need to form highly efficient teams of companies, NGO’s, academia, etc. to both conduct research as well as to initiate piloting of concepts and collaboration models; Companies need to think big and be ready to take risks
Quick wins: Rapid launch of a private sector led vocational education cluster that brings on board hand picked specialists to build a ‘test case’. Initial focus on private education (pricing and speed applicable to the context) that integrates content developers, pedagogic and institutional expertise, digital delivery platforms, etc. Reason for initial focus on private education is to rapidly build with a working prototype that highlights the benefits of the Finnish model. The proven model can then be deployed to public education system as well.
Successful market entry: Market entry requires excellent understanding of the target markets and of ways to conduct go-to-market campaigns. Companies need to be able to build brand awareness through traditional marketing, digital channels and through viral communication. Players need to effectively utilize contact networks, such as NGO outreach. NGO’s and Private companies can definitely co-operate but roles need to be defined clearly
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18. Education (Group 2) (cont.)
Support Required: Make it possible to sell and commercialize vocational education; Align efforts focusing on education export efforts; Facilitate building of partnerships between different stakeholders; Build a funding program (BEAM?) that supports both R&D and piloting efforts of individual players as well as consortia. Get BEAM operationalized rapidly.
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19. Adding Higher Local Value
•Growth opportunities: are HUGE.
Increasing valued addition and creating jobs locally are priorities in most African countries. Countries see that their raw materials are exported with little value addition taking place and then imported at much higher prices with value addition taking place somewhere else.
There is visible and strong political support (e.g. industrialization strategies) from governments to "move up the value addition ladder", but that support might not be there due to vested interest.
By Africans for Africans is one of the current mega trends. Nevertheless, there is still room for Finnish expertise if it adds value to local processes and local capacity does not exist.
Finns are good at organizing processes, adopting a structured approach that could be a key selling point for Finland.
Value additions services – at different entry points along the value chain – is also something that Finland is good at.
•What are the next hotspots: Countries with relative stability are well positioned to take the next step from a commodities based economy into higher value addition. Finland should be selective – and not spread itself too thinly. The largest growth centers are not necessarily the most appropriate – with less obvious mid-size centres also attractive. The key is to build on contacts/links e.g. from development cooperation, diaspora, student exchanges etc. Good local partners is important.
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20. Adding Higher Local Value (cont.)
•Timeline: Now/ yesterday in more developed/stable countries
• Next Steps: A Finnish SME is too small "to go it alone". However, a Finnish multinational that is already present in Africa could take the lead in engaging Finnish SMEs into value addition locally, e.g. in the mining sector. But it is difficult to convince them. The challenge is that MNC have no particular interest in working with Finnish SMEs – and unless there is a clear profit motive, they would probably not be interested in taking the lead.
•The good news is that the lead does not have to be MNC – but could an institution, smaller company or other organization – that would take the lead bring together required partners locally in SSA and in Finland. Could BEAM be that institution? Probably not as it does not have the personnel capacity, but it could play a role in financing such as consortia.
•Role of government: Funding, info, contacts, facilitation etc. are useful. Development cooperation has created many useful contacts / platforms etc that could be leveraged. Embassies are a good starting point. Many foreign embassies in Finland are keen and to help potential investors gain access to their markets.
•Key Message: Get on the plane and go to the market. Finns often plan too long. In SSA it is crucial to have a presence locally- emails etc. are not a substitute. BEAM should not spread itself too thinly but have a selective, structured approach, so that it can make a real difference.
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21. Financial Services
Growth Opportunities: There is sufficient micro-finance and mainstream funding: it is medium sized finance that is missing, and Collateral guarantees are missing (ref. AfDB)
Trust is important: data, documentation; contracts
We need to fund innovative projects; Public (soft) finance is targeted at SMEs (loan registry)
IFI provides loans to local commercial bank (first loss guarantee); Do we finance shareholder value or shared values? The Stock exchange will integrate investors and investees; Diaspora funding is important –investment in land is a consequence of no trust; Do Finnish players have fundable projects?
Valuation of Property Critical : including the informal economy
Interbank electronic payments don’t work; although m-banking does
Growth Hotspots
Global-not SSA; International Initiatives; Housing investment used as collateral; Collaboration with Chinese Money; Shared Value; Franchising Funding Needed; PE funds already working in Africa; Diaspora Bonds; and Stock Exchanges interesting areas to look at.
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22. Contents
Summary Overview of Workshop Process
Summary Findings of Working Groups
Summary of Key Collective Findings & Recommendations
Last Word: Personal Commentary from Mani James
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23. Summary of Findings
All Groups Identified that there was clear opportunity in Africa, driven by the obvious socio-economic drivers identified earlier in the workshop process.
Most Groups identified specific sub-sector/segment areas as necessary to focus, aligned with specific geographic market focus. This approach has to tie in with identified areas of strength of Finland.
In terms of market entry , building the correct eco-system, networks and understanding the appropriate value chains were seen as critical drivers to success.
Planning & Partnering Processes seen as key: particularly with players in situ in Africa: and particularly with all key stakeholders, public and private, as well as between Finnish private, public and NGO bodies.
Risk analysis factored in various group analysis processes, from political uncertainty, trust in viability of financial transactions, exaggerated forms of support, and finance availability.
In terms of enabling success, clarity of purpose and coordination of government support programs seen as important, both as facilitators, and as supporters of finance availability, trading guarantees, etc. Need to increase use of current resources (Embassies et al) and have leading consortia be built.
Attitudinally, there has to be a positive encouragement to risk taking: there has to be a willingness to get on the plane to Africa and build a platform for growth.
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24. Recommendations : Actions Suggested
That a clear process of prioritisation of country markets is deployed. This will drive different country group targets per sector or thematic areas. This should include all factors of market opportunity analysis. Market insight & evidence needed to support.
One of the key factors in the prioritisation process is Risk Analysis for the countries reviewed. This could be an important central role for coordinating agency undertake e.g. BEAM of MFA
Post these processes a refined go-to-market strategy should be developed.
Suitable platforms of co-operation have to be built and maintained to enable partnering processes to take place. This should include partnering within Finland (sector/cluster/thematic ), within Nordic region (as appropriate to sector/theme) and with local partners in Africa. This should incorporate inclusion of NGOs. The build of supporting networking, information sharing and eco- system development between private, public and NGO stakeholders is seen as critical.
It should be clear which program or agency is leading such processes: many felt BEAM to be the suitable program. Also increase role and function of Embassies in support of the process.
Support in making sure that a clear process is mapped out, and all appropriate tools and techniques are provided to sector/thematic groups, should be a core function of the supporting agency.
BEAM or other stakeholders should action these recommendations .
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25. Contents
Summary Overview of Workshop Process
Summary Findings of Working Groups
Summary of Key Collective Findings & Recommendations
Last Word: Personal Commentary from Mani James
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26. Last Word: A Personal Commentary from Mani James
The participants eagerly engaged in the conference. Given the number of questions that I had received and the comments that came from a number of participants at the conference, my perception is that Finnish companies are looking for “genuine long term ” growth opportunities in Africa.
I say genuine because of the perception amongst Finnish companies about risk of doing business in Africa. They have had their share of success and failures. It was interesting to note how one participant pointed out to the example of Chinese companies. He mentioned that there are over 20,000 Chinese companies that are operating in Africa. He also mentioned that over 80,000 Chinese companies have failed in this space as well.
It was very difficult to gauge the risk taking appetite of the Finnish companies during the conference. There hasn’t been a large number of Finnish entities making successful market entries in Africa. It occurred to me that perhaps the Finnish companies didn’t feel confident enough about the ability to derive the return on investment in a continent like Africa. Coupled with the fact that corruption is quite a common occurrence in Africa, could have also discouraged them.
My understanding of the issues at hand from Finnih enterprises perspective can be summed as :
Do not have a clear understanding of the market potential of their products and end customers
Their perceptions of the levels of corruption and uncertainty on the countries in Africa are high
A big desire to identify the right partners, supply chain and logistics pertaining to each country and region
They were not exactly clear about the return on investment on such investments in Africa
Limited understanding of the risks of doing business with the various countries in Africa to an extent limited their decision making abilities
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27. Last Word: A Personal Commentary from Mani James
What level or extent of government to government level support was available to them wasn’t very clear
The Finnish SME sector certainly does seem to be very excited about their prospects, as they seem to realise that they could penetrate these markets quite effectively in a shorter time frame
Why I genuinely think Finnish enterprises should go for this:
The Finnish companies are wanting to expand their business into emerging markets such as Africa. Given their intention to expand their horizon, I do believe that Africa offers them with a vibrant opportunity.
Africa has always known to embrace innovation and has the ability to adopt to newer technologies. By harnessing the product innovation expertise of Finnish companies, I genuinely feel that they will have a competitive edge in Africa
By identifying and working with mutually beneficial partner companies, Finnish companies can start to penetrate the African markets in a more meaningful way.
As I mentioned during the conference, “Africa is not for the or faint hearted and it is not for the short haul “. By developing a long term growth strategy which includes finding the suitable market entry option, Africa could well prove right to be a major growth frontier for Finnish companies.
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28. Your Contacts
Iain Jawad
Director Strategic Partnerships
Frost & Sullivan
P: +44 (0)20 7343 8311
M:+44 (0)7961 769545
F: +44 (0)20 7730 3343
Mail :iain.jawad@frost.com
Mani James Regional Director Africa Frost & Sullivan P: +27 (0)21 680 3208 F: + 27 (0)21 680 3296 Mail : mani.james@frost.com
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