Interview - M. Stephane Peilz (Uk)
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FREE TRANSLATION
(Adressé à : M. Stephane Peilz- VP Afrique chez B & Industries)
Le Monde Economique: Until recently the mere idea of investment capital and
speculative funds arriving massively on the African continent seemed to be incongruous.
Today it is a reality. What has changed?
As far as microeconomic picture, 78% of countries located in Sub-Saharan Africa changed
their legislations in favour of free entrepreneurship. From the macroeconomic point of view,
and according to the data provided by the World Bank, not only average ROI (return on
investment) is increasing in the traditional sectors of economy across this continent, but 35
countries, according to “The Economic Intelligence Unit”, have Democracy Index higher than
that of China….It is a dream come true!
Le Monde Economique: The exceptional economic growth is a reality in Africa, the
continent traditionally known for export of raw materials. Nonetheless, there is still
some resistance on behalf of investors to engage into the African market. What can
possibly justify this?
One would evoke a certain ignorance that Africa suffers from in the eyes of the Occident.
Well beyond the standard clichés of poverty attributed to Africa, there is a continent where
the GDP growth rate over the past decade oscillated between 5 and 5.5 %. Over the same
period, amongst the ten countries having enjoyed the highest growth rate in the world, seven
were located in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is equally the only part of the word to profit from the
population dividend, i.e. the number of socially active persons in this region is at its highest in
relation to the dependant part of the population. This causing endless discussions in
OECD…..
Le Monde Economique: The private capital reserves in Africa are the weakest amongst
the world’s developing countries but they experience a faster growth than elsewhere.
How European companies and notably Swiss companies could profit from the African
Boom ?
By targeting markets with important growth potential rather than putting their cost structure
under scrutiny or playing the wait-and-see game, the latter two, although sometimes justified,
being sterile strategies in the long run. As far as the distributorship network used in Africa by
some companies, the question one is to ask is about their margins and their brand image. One
should equally bear in mind the presence of foreign companies, notably the Chinese ones that
are used to Swiss standards. Two other major advantages that Swiss companies have doing
business in Africa are the country reputation for unprecedented quality and its neutrality, both
representing a strong leverage versus appetites and strong ambitions of the former colonies.
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Le Monde Economique: To promote a brand from one side of the continent to the other,
across a mosaic of more than 50 countries with different languages and cultures, is not
an easy thing to do. From your experience, what region of Africa the European
companies should concentrate themselves most upon?
The balkanization of Sub-Saharan Africa essentially resulting from its wide-spread tribal
system represents an immense opportunity in commercial terms. Indeed, this ethnical variety
allows for substantial risk mitigation across the countries of the region, unlike in Russia or
China, countries of constant business predilection over the past decade, where single
legislative change can have a detrimental major impact on your products and services. For
instance, recent legislative restrictions on sale of tobacco products in Russia entailed losses
and damages for tobacco industry. Consequently, enterprises must aim at dozens of countries
simultaneously.
Le Monde Economique: What added value can your structure bring to the companies
who would like to turn to Africa for doing business?
Usually companies have a tendency to send specialists in a given domain to investigate the
market conditions. This is part of the competencies that we offer, however, as far as Sub-
Saharan Africa is concerned, an important additional value adding component we leverage
upon are specific skills at negotiation and industrial diplomacy.
Competencies characteristic of one branch of industry, be it long banking experience, watch
making know-how or the best of MBA, are secondary compared to personal competencies
which are negotiation skills, aptitude at driving consensus and art of networking…the latter
soft skills being learned sur place at the cost of many grey hairs.
I would like to add that the fact of not belonging to one tribe, which in itself may constitute a
case of ostracism and local mistrust, could also be a great advantage, moreover so if you
speak French, English and Afrikaans.
Furthermore, the heads of African states tend to navigate between adherence to secret
societies and belief in the sacrilege of God, the two worlds which I belong to.
Le Monde Economique: Would setting up Swiss companies on the African continent be
judicial for their growth? If yes, please justify your answer.
In order that national debt of a State does not exceed 50% of GDP, it has to rely upon public-
private partnerships which constitute a remedy in terms of risk management, return on
