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SBF led inaugural business mission to Kenya, Rwanda & Uganda culminated in Singapore businesses incorporating companies in Sub Saharan Africa |
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SBF led inaugural business mission to Kenya, Rwanda & Uganda culminated in Singapore businesses incorporating companies in Sub Saharan Africa
Singapore, Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - The Singapore Business Federation's (SBF) Africa Business Group (AfBG) led a business delegation on a business mission to East Africa from 04 - 15 December 2010 in conjunction with Senior Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed's bilateral working visit to Kenya and Rwanda. The business mission to the three countries is the first mission undertaken by SBF to the east Sub-Saharan African region since the Federation's engagements with Africa in 2007.
Led by Business Mission leader Mr. Shabbir Hassanbhai, Chairman of AfBG and Singapore's Non-Resident High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Ms. Christina Tan, Vice Chairman of AfBG and Managing Director of GMT-Investcorp as the Deputy Business Mission leader, the business delegation visited Nairobi, Kenya from 4 to 8 December; Kigali, Rwanda from 9 to 11 December; and Kampala, Uganda from 12 to 15 December. The business mission was also joined by Mr. Yatiman Yusof, Singapore Non-Resident High Commissioner to Kenya and Rwanda as well as Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade & Industry officials.
The 17-member strong business delegation representing companies in the consumer goods, luxury retail, security equipment, engineering, construction materials & services, ICT and agrochemical sectors was in East Africa to gain a better understanding of the general business environment, opportunities and challenges present in the region.
"Singapore has taken notice that Africa's quickening economic pulse is infusing a new commercial vibrancy, making it a potential market for our companies to expand their reach. From our side, this inaugural visit intends to sow seeds for future business exchanges and growing bilateral trade and investment between our two countries," said Mr. Hassanbhai in his welcome remarks in Kenya at the briefing seminar conducted by Kenya Investment Authority.
During the business mission, the delegation had the opportunity to meet up with private sector and government agencies representatives from the Kenya Ministry of Industrialisation, Kenya Investment Authority, Rwanda Ministry of Trade and Industry, Rwanda Development Board, Uganda Investment Authority and Uganda Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, who briefed the delegation on the economic landscape and investment opportunities available in their countries. The delegates also participated in various networking and business matching sessions as well as site visits to gain first hand insights on the market dynamics and emerging sectors as well as to establish useful business and official contacts.
The visit to East Africa has indeed shed light on the region's potential as well as the possible areas of collaboration and partnerships with these countries for Singapore businesses. With Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda now part of the newly established common market of the East African Community (EAC), the Singapore business community can leverage on the free movement of labour, capital, goods and services within the EAC to advance their business interests.
Kenya
As the most developed economy in East Africa and the economic, commercial and logistical hub of the entire region, Kenya presents numerous opportunities with its extensive infrastructure and highly educated population. Singapore has in fact signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kenyan government in January 2010 to provide technical advice on setting up six of the Vision 2030 flagship projects which include establishing efficient transportation networks, development of a free port in Mombasa and the setting up of affordable housing units. With these developments in the pipeline, Singapore businesses can look forward to opportunities in the above mentioned sectors as well as other development projects from Kenya Vision 2030.
Rwanda
Rwanda, one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, has swiftly rebuilt and transformed itself into a thriving and safe country for investors since the 1994 genocide. Debuted as the most competitive place to do business in East Africa and ranked 11th in the world for ease of starting business, Rwanda is certainly an economic haven for Singapore investors looking to establish business in Sub-Saharan Africa given its robust governance and investor friendly climate. In fact, through the facilitation of the Singapore Business Federation, two of our local participating companies successfully registered and incorporated their companies in Rwanda all within a day while participating in the mission. It is also worthy to note that the general public sector of Rwanda is closely modelled after Singapore and our Republic has in fact been actively participating in the development of Rwanda. For the past few years, Singapore has offered its public-service expertise to this East African nation through the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise in the fields of civil aviation, city planning, social security and skills development. With these developments as well as the potential opportunities in ICT, transportation infrastructure, and energy & power generation, Rwanda certainly holds many opportunities for private sector engagements from Singapore.
Uganda
One of the fast growing economies in Africa with a six-fold increase in the size of its economy over the last 24 years, Uganda presents numerous opportunities to Singapore investors with its substantial natural resources of fertile soils, mineral deposits and recently discovered crude oil and natural gas reserves. Promising opportunities can be found in manufacturing, energy, logistics and value-adding processing and services sectors.
As the apex business chamber representing the Singapore business community in international trade expansion, promotion and business networking, this business mission session is the first of the federation's engagement with East Africa through the African Business Group, and it is envisaged that the mission would set the groundwork to promote East Africa to the Singapore business community. SBF has been proactive in building links between Singapore and Africa business communities. The federation launched the Africa Business Group (AFBG) in July 2010 and had recently led a business mission to Angola, South Africa and Botswana from 13 to 22 September 2010.
For more information on Africa-related events, please contact
Ms. Sarah Wong
Executive, GBD Middle East and Africa
Singapore Business Federation
Email: markets.amea@sbf.org.sg
Tel: 6827 6836
About Africa Business Group, SBF
The Africa Business Group (AFBG) is formed under the auspices of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF). The AFBG was launched in July 2010 during the inaugural Africa-Singapore Business Forum, where Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Manpower, was the Guest-of-Honor and witness.
As Singapore's apex business chamber, SBF champions the interests of the business community in trade, investment and industrial relations. The AFBG will be a platform to facilitate the exchanges between the Singapore business community and their counterparts from the African region. Partnering business associations and investment promotion agencies in the African region, AFBG will assist Singapore companies to make inroads into the fast growing markets of Africa and play a part in the developmental needs of region. AFBG is headed by Mr Shabbir Hassanbhai, Council Member, SBF and Director, Indo Straits Trading Co Pte Ltd.
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