TUSKON opens third Turkey-Africa trade summit
Posted by meb at May 13th, 2008
The third edition of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) Foreign Trade Bridge between Turkey and Africa will open today in İstanbul.
The business relations between African countries and Turkey have increased significantly in recent years, with Turkey targeting Africa as a trade partner and the foreign trade summits organized by TUSKON paving the way for the establishment of business ties.
As a result of the first two summits, which were supported by the Turkish Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade, numerous Turkish businessmen established new trade relations or enhanced their current relations with Africa; some even moved their operations to African countries. This year for the third summit, 2,500 Turkish businessmen are expected to participate in the event and have around 40,000 business meetings. TUSKON aims to contribute to around $3 billion worth of trade between Turkey and Africa with this summit.
Turkey’s exports to African countries reached $3.6 billion in 2005, while they exceeded $6 billion in 2007. The number of Turkish investors in Africa was 73 before 2006, but after TUSKON’s first Foreign Trade Bridge summit, this number nearly doubled to 134. Currently there are 150 Turkish investors in 23 African countries.
Since 2006, Turkish businessmen have made investments in Ethiopia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Benin, the Central African Republic, Angola and Malawi for the first time.
Paving Malawian roads
Veysel Akşam was one of the first Turkish businessmen to invest in Malawi. A resident of İzmir, Akşam had visited Malawi several times and decided to invest in this country with his five friends. He moved to Malawi in August 2007, leaving an accounting position in İzmir, and began crushed rock productions for road construction as the country was increasingly investing in infrastructure. Akşam aims to make further investments of around $2 million and to employ 200 people, and says his next step is to become involved in the construction business. In the meantime, he also operates in agriculture and livestock; he purchased 200,000 square meters of land and plans to cultivate cotton, tobacco and corn. When all his projects are up and running, the number of people he expects to employ is 1,000. Akşam emphasized that it is important for Turkish businessmen to go abroad, citing aluminum processors as an example. “The number of aluminum processors in Turkey is equal to that of variety stores; however, here there are very few,” he said.
The labor costs in the country are very low, but the main problem is transportation of investment and capital goods that are used for production. According to Akşam, a worker’s monthly salary varies between $30 and $50, the salary of a craftsman is $100 while the wages of foreign managers can exceed $3,000. The goods produced in Malawi can be exported to 13 countries in southern Africa without having to undergo customs processing.
In addition to commercial activities, Akşam and his partners are involved in social responsibility projects. They have started a project to have wells drilled in every Malawian village, of which only 2 percent have access to electricity.
Selling construction materials in South Africa
Ergül Güney is another businessman that moved from Turkey to Africa, but in his case from Kastamonu to South Africa, where he sells construction materials and chemicals. He has been living there for a year and a half. Güney had been operating a construction business in Turkey but switched to other fields as the construction business slowed down. After considering moving abroad for some time, he made some investment assessments in Africa and decided to go to Mozambique; however, he later changed his mind because of the World Cup, which will be held in South Africa in 2010. The preparations for such a large event would surely boost construction in the country, he thought, and thus headed to South Africa.
He acquired the representation rights of a construction materials firm in Turkey and established a partnership with another Turkish businessman, Halil Altuntaş, who worked in the carpet business in South Africa and who had the necessary permits for investment. This partnership also allowed them to expand their business to Angola. Güney says he has no plans to return to Turkey, but rather is looking to expand into 15 other African countries.
Erzincan to Mozambique
After making the bold move to end his business in Erzincan, which he had operated for 30 years, Şeyhattin Ballı announced he was moving to Mozambique. When he first mentioned his plans to his friends and family, they questioned his sanity. Though he soon liquidated his furniture business in Erzincan and established a new firm in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo. He now advises other businessmen to invest in Mozambique as there are many greenfield investment opportunities, but warns that they must first have strong finances to launch a business. Ballı said TUSKON’s trade bridges were important platforms for establishing new trade relations and partnerships, emphasizing that he also benefited from TUSKON’s credibility in starting his operations in Mozambique.
source: Today’s Zaman
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