The International division’s vision is to enable Business Connexion to capture and grow business in all areas that the group, and its customers, operate. The division will drive its growth through the provision of ICT services and the creation of long-term, sustainable business relationships with the group’s existing and future customers and partners globally.

The International division, with its six African offices, namely Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and the UK office, contributed R350,5 million to total revenue. Three of the five African subsidiaries grew market share and profitability, despite being plagued by the global economic crisis. The UK office also managed to retain all its key customers and bring two new customers on board to offset revenue losses that occurred during the year under review.

July 2010 was a momentous month in African history with South Africa hosting the first ever African FIFA Soccer World CupTM. For the International division the month was of greater importance with the heads of state from the East African Community (EAC) trade bloc signing a common market protocol.

This protocol has resulted in the removal of trade barriers between Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The International division will take advantage of this development as it already has a presence in Tanzania. The division holds 50% market share of the Umoja Switch in Tanzania. This strategic opportunity will help springboard Business Connexion into the East Africa community.

The challenges of globalisation compel countries to develop their information and communication infrastructure and create an enabling environment for information and knowledge sharing. Africa lags the rest of the world in this respect, and the group sees growth opportunity in Africa for packaging its own application solutions, extending existing partnerships to new markets, leveraging its data centres, and by exporting skills to deliver large, complex infrastructure projects. Already acknowledged as Africa’s leading integrator of ICT based business solutions, Business Connexion has entered into an agreement with a local shareholder and a new office is being set up in Kenya. The Namibian office, currently the largest contributor to the International division, is making phenomenal inroads across all sectors of the economy. Significant wins were achieved during the year in the telecommunications, mining, financial services and local government sectors.

 



The Mozambique office, recognised as the “Best Partner for NetApps” (data storage equipment) in the region, has extended its footprint in the country on the back of a support contract with a diversified mining multinational corporation.

The Zambian office had a challenging year but all indications are that the economy is recovering, specifically in the Copper Belt region, which will allow the business to grow its business with its focus on Microsoft solution offerings and its NetApps partnership. These three offices will be responsible for driving future growth and profitability in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region outside of South Africa.

The Nigerian office was appointed as a Cisco Gold Certified Partner in West English speaking Africa. This appointment is a significant boost to the region as the office can now replicate its past successes in the delivery of wireless campus networks and continue its focus in the telecommunications sector. The Nigerian office is pivotal in managing the International division’s partnership relationships into other West African countries. The Nigerian public sector is seen as a significant growth area and in order to take advantage of this space, an Abuja office will be opened during the first quarter of the new year to focus on the sale of our Innovation division’s solution offerings.

The UK office continues to focus on the supply of managed services to medium sized enterprises and South Africa multinational companies with a UK footprint. The existing customer base, and the focus on managed services, will allow the office to drive its growth strategy for annuity based services offerings into Europe.

The International division has established operations in four of the top eleven most populated African countries. This base will allow the division to extend its footprint across the continent through cross border partnership arrangements and the establishment of offices in strategic countries such as Kenya in East Africa and Abuja, Nigeria in West Africa. The division is also embarking on a project to connect all offices via satellite to ensure secure and reliable bandwidth and connectivity between all Business Connexion offices and in so doing enhancing the group’s ability to leverage its intellectual property, service solution experience and technology relationships across the African continent.