Phoenix expands across Africa

BUSINESS

Specialist distribution house Phoenix Distribution is expanding across the continent, opening branches in a number of African countries to meet the needs of its African resellers.

 “Telecommunications, banking, and retailing are flourishing across Africa. Construction is booming. Private investment inflows are surging,” says Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of South Africa-based Phoenix Distribution. “This has had a knock-on effect, resulting in increased trade across many sectors, but especially in technology.”

This is one of the reasons that Phoenix Distribution has expanded up the continent, opening branches in a number of African countries to meet the needs of its African resellers. In addition to its original South African, Zimbabwean and Zambian branches, the company now has operations in Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and Tanzania. This growth, Campbell-Young explains, was the result of requests from resellers requiring on-the-ground service and support as well as the opportunities offered by each country.

“When we embarked on our growth strategy, we initially focused on the South African market. But after repeated requests from African resellers who were purchasing from us, we actively evaluated potential opportunities on the continent. Not only did we have an established base of resellers in many of these countries, but Africa’s strong long-term growth prospects made it a sound business decision to expand our operations into a number of African countries. Now, our Zambian business has grown to the extent that we recently moved into new premises to better serve our customers, and our other African operations are showing steady returns too.”

While many of Africa’s economies face serious challenges, a number of countries are among the world’s most rapidly growing economies. The need for ICT products and services in these growth areas is expanding accordingly, and this acceleration is a sign of hard-earned progress and promise, says Campbell-Young. “Africa’s collective GDP, at USD1.6 trillion in 2008, is now roughly equal to Brazil’s or Russia’s, and there is massive potential. We have used this potential to create opportunities and to satisfy the unmet demands of African businesses.”