Danish food ingredients giant Danisco has tripled sales in South Africa in less than three years, now boasting sales of DKr50m (US$m6.5m) and expecting to see two-digit growth rates also in future, says Frederik Gejl-Hansen, president of Danisco operations in Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa (EUROW).
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“Danisco has been operating in the South African market since the 1970s through distributors but discontinued operations during the trade embargo against the apartheid regime. After using distributors for a while, we set up our own sales offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town about three years ago and put Robbert Huitema in charge – and then things started to happen.
“Robbert Huitema’s extensive knowledge of the special circumstances prevailing in South Africa is a key factor for our current success in this market,” says Frederik Gejl-Hansen.
Special conditions
Huitema said: “South Africa has suffered from various problems making this market a very special one as compared with many other countries.
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By GlobalData“Currently, Danisco is involved in a training project in cooperation with a franchise chain of bakeries, designed to support young black people who want to become bakers. As soon as the authorities grant approval, the first team of four apprentice bakers will be sent on a week long training course at Danisco´s site in Brabrand as part of their apprenticeship.
“Further, a growing middle-class is emerging in South Africa resulting in increasing demand for advanced and affordable foods, which are available in other industrialised countries today. Our progress is based on our capability to successfully utilise the current upswing coupled with our ability to capture market shares from our competitors despite our disadvantage of having to re-establish our name after years of absence due to the embargo.”
Portal to other markets
Frederik Gejl-Hansen is convinced that there is a major potential for food ingredients on the Africa continent, and although efforts are currently focused on South Africa, there is growing interest in some of the neighbouring countries, for instance Namibia and Mozambique, and South Africa is thus a portal to a large African market south of equator.
