With the World Bank forecasting economic growth in Sub-Saharan\nAfrica at 3.6% for 2019 to 2020, some of the world\u2019s most fast-growing\neconomies are in Africa. Pieter Bensch, Executive Vice-President at Sage Africa and Middle East, looks at some\nof the trends and how businesses in the region can benefit from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ease of doing business to improve <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Governments across Africa have woken up to the\npotential of the small and medium business sector as an engine for economic\ngrowth and job creation. Major countries are taking action to make it\neasier for entrepreneurs to register and run a company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nigeria and Togo, for example, both recorded\nimpressive improvements, according to the World Bank\nGroup’s Doing Business study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, South Africa recently launched a pilot portal,\nwith the aim of enabling business owners to register a company online in just\none day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most African countries have some distance to travel\nin reducing red tape and improving infrastructure \u2013 but the signs of change are\nencouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Familiarise yourself with the digital tools\navailable in the markets where you operate to streamline processes such as filing\ntax submissions, registering a new business or opening a business bank account.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Automated software picks up the admin burden <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tools that were once too expensive and complex for\nsmaller businesses are becoming increasingly accessible. For example, nearly\nany business in Africa can afford to automate accounting and payroll with a\ncloud subscription software solution. And now, tools such as Artificial Intelligence\n(AI) are becoming a viable option for small businesses in business processes such\nas email\nmarketing, customer service, data entry and accounting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evaluate where you are still using paper or\nExcel to run calculations and keep records, then look for automated\nsoftware tools that can do the tasks for you. You can redirect the hours you\nused to spend on your paperwork towards sales or billable work instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A connected customer is hungry for information <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers today use their mobile phones as their\ngateway to knowledge and information. From researching a big-ticket purchase to\nasking questions and making complaints on social media, to writing user reviews\non tools like Google Maps, consumers are using digital channels to get what\nthey want and need from companies big and small. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With more than 525 million African Internet users, or\naround 40% of the population, this is a trend no small business can afford\nto ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look at how you can use digital technologies for\nmarketing and customer service. For example, tools like Piktochart and Canva\nlet you create wonderful content for your website like reports and\ninfographics. Live chatbots can be a great way to answer customer queries in\nreal-time and quickly. And you can use a Google My Business Account to create a\nfree online listing for your company so that you come up in the search results\nwhen people are looking for a local business like yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doors to trade swing wide open <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There isn\u2019t yet as much intra-Africa trade as there\nshould be, but that is changing with the Continental Free Trade Area\n(CFTA) set to make importing and exporting much easier across the\ncontinent. More than 40 countries are part of the agreement and most of the few\nthat haven\u2019t signed up yet are likely to join. This could help spur economic\ngrowth continent-wide and reduce costs as we start to begin to use more\nproducts from our neighbouring countries rather than those shipped from the\nother side of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now is the time to start thinking about the opportunities of cross-border trade for your supply chain \u2013 find out about the customers and suppliers you can build relationships within other countries. Contact chambers of business and international trade departments to find out about the opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourth Industrial Revolution \u2013 hope and hype <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a business owner, you may have seen a lot of\nhype about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Industry 4.0 or 4IR. This Fourth\nIndustrial Revolution is driven by connected devices and sensors (the so-called\nInternet of Things), cloud computing, advanced robotics, intelligent software,\nAI, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality, fast mobile data (5G) and a\nrange of other technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does this affect me when I can\u2019t get reliable\nelectricity or fibre in my city? you might ask. But these technologies are\nincreasingly accessible and affordable, allowing smaller businesses to compete\nmore effectively and efficiently with larger companies. The trick is to come on\nboard at just the right time \u2013 not too soon for your customers and not too late\nto catch the wave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigate what\u2019s in the market as well as how small business in Africa and the rest of the world are using the technology. Could robots and 3D printing enable new manufacturing models for your company? And what opportunities could cloud-based business solutions or AI unlock for you? And importantly, what could this all mean for your customers and employees? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Leading Africa\u2019s growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Small and medium businesses in Sub-Saharan\nAfrica are nimble and resilient \u2013 so this time of changing consumer behaviour, rapidly\nshifting economic and social trends, and evolving technology is ripe with\nopportunity for your small business. It\u2019s an exciting time to be an\nentrepreneur in Africa \u2013 a continent that is will rise with the help of its\nhardworking and dynamic business owners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the World Bank forecasting economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa at 3.6% for 2019 to 2020, some of the world\u2019s most fast-growing economies are in Africa. Pieter Bensch, Executive Vice-President at Sage Africa and Middle East, looks at some of the trends and how businesses in the region can benefit from them. Ease of doing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":31133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4950,328,136,6,19,9059,10675,13,262,9060],"tags":[7290,385,496,386,12136,4894,12138,1402,1002,554,12137,245,155,685,12135,271,453,419,570,2373],"class_list":["post-31132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-features","category-industry-expert","category-insights","category-regional-news","category-south-africa","category-thought-leadership","category-top-stories","category-used","category-west-africa","tag-4ir","tag-africa","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-canva","tag-chatbots","tag-continental-free-trade-area","tag-excel","tag-fourth-industrial-revolution","tag-google-maps","tag-google-my-business-account","tag-industry-4-0","tag-internet-of-things","tag-nigeria","tag-piktochart","tag-sage","tag-south-africa","tag-sub-saharan-africa","tag-togo","tag-world-bank"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31132"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31138,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31132\/revisions\/31138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}