NABC |

The meeting at HILCO Welding offered the opportunity to exchange experiences on doing business in Africa. According to all participants the members meeting was a great success; by exchanging information with presentations and making contacts with an informal drink a members meeting offers a good platform for companies doing business in Africa.

The first presentation by HILCO?s managing director Paul Roukema was on HILCO Welding, the welding industry and on his personal experiences with Africa both during and before his work with HILCO. The presentation by Ron de Bruin, the area sales manager Africa of HILCO was on what he called 'the point of no return': "once you start doing business with Africa, your company will encounter very specific problems, but with good contacts, persistence, experience and a healthy dose of humor you can do business and there is no turning back. And once you can do business in Africa, you can do business all over the world."

After a small break Marc Wesseling from Mango Capital Fund held his presentation on investing in African stock exchanges. At first you would maybe think investing only in Africa (and the Middle East) could be quite risky, but Marc Wesseling made it very clear that the African countries are not strongly correlated with each other. Therefore, investing in many African countries significantly reduces the risk of the overall portfolio. His fund made very good returns over its existence and is still growing. According to Marc Wesseling Africa is a great continent with many opportunities.

All in all, our member exchanged many ideas on doing business in Africa and know a lot more on welding, which can always be useful for the future! The next opportunity to exchange experiences is on the 24th of June. NABC's members will visit Damen Shipyards, the famous Dutch shipbuilder.