africon GmbH won their first tender with GIZ

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africon GmbH won their first tender with GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) – The official German association for international cooperation. africon was then invited to organize the program of a Tunisian delegation visiting Germany from 24-26th April of this year.

During their time in Germany the Tunisian companies met with German companies of the food & beverage sector to create valuable and fruitful contacts in order to create long lasting partnerships for the purpose of entering African markets with joint forces.

The delegation trip was part of the 4-year GIZ project PEMA (Promotion des exportations créatrice d’emploi dans des nouveaux marchés africains), which aims at supporting export activities to Africa and to further job creation. The Tunisian delegation consisted of 7 food processing companies and visited Germany for 2 days.

The core piece of the delegation’s trip was a B2B Workshop at the Congress Center Düsseldorf on Thursday, 25 April 2019. During this event the German and Tunisian companies received very good insights into the Tunisian as well as Sub Saharan African markets of food & beverage processing through overview presentations given by africon GmbH and Deloitte Tunisia (the local Tunisian partner of GIZ). 

After these introductory presentations the participants exchanged ideas & interests in individual discussions while sharing coffee and lunch.

All participants (Tunisian & German) said that the B2B event, including the presentations, was very satisfying and useful.

During their first day, on 24. April 2019 the Tunisian delegates received the opportunity to visit one of the largest German non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers “Sinalco” (Deutsche Sinalco GmbH Markengetränke & Co. KG).

During this site visit a presentation about the history of Sinalco was given and Sinalco presented their production facilities to the delegation. This gave the Tunisian company representatives the opportunity to experience one of the largest German beverage manufacturers “in action”.

GIZ Delegation

In case you missed the B2B event but are interested in learning more about the Tunisian companies, please don’t hesitate to contact us or Mr. Fabian Schuster.

Contracted by the German Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate to conduct a business delegation in Ethiopia

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For the third time in 3 years africon won the public invitation from the German Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate to organize a business delegation trip. This time the delegation visited Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

From August 27th to August 30th 2017 the delegation of our longstanding client the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viniculture of Rhineland-Palatinate, consisting of three very different companies and being led by Dr. Richard Auernheimer, State Secretary A.D. visited Addis Ababa.

The three delegates are specialized in feed additives for animal feed, in chemicals for paints, varnishes and solvent mixtures and in communication & information solutions for Air traffic, Defense, Maritime, Public Transport, Public Safety.

 

The first day of the business trip, africon organized a city tour through Addis to familiarize the business people with the town and the rich culture and history of Ethiopia. In the evening Stephan Wendt, First Secretary – Head of Economic & Cultural Sections of the German Embassy welcomed all with a briefing note and valuable background knowledge on “How to do Business in Ethiopia” in one of the leading restaurants of Addis Ababa. Rounding up the cultural program of the day with economic knowledge.

On Monday the whole day was reserved for a B2B Event at the Radisson Blue Hotel. During which each of the delegates was presented with a number of arranged meetings with specifically chosen Ethiopian business representatives that matched the German’s individual business interests.

During the first part of the event in the morning leading Ethiopian business associations like “Chamber of Commerce”, “Ethiopian Investment Commission” as well as a representative of a law firm specialized on business law, were giving short presentations on their fields of expertise. Again providing the delegation with valuable knowledge on facts and figures to be aware of when planning on doing business in Ethiopia.

All speakers were invited to the following lunch break giving the delegates the chance to get involved into one-on-one discussions.

After the B2B meetings in the afternoon the day was rounded up perfectly by the invitation of the newly assigned Ambassador of Germany H.E. Brita Wagener to her residency. During this evening reception wine from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate which was sponsored by the Ministry was served and the delegates could mingle and chat with a number of Ethiopian, German and international business representatives, deepening the impressions and knowledge of the Ethiopian business community.

The third day, africon reserved the morning for official meetings at the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Associations, the Ministry of Industry as well as the Ministry of Mining.

Later on same day, drove 45 minutes outside of Addis Ababa to visit one of the many Industrial Zones: The “Eastern Industry Zone Park”. Here an introduction of the benefits and the general way of working as well as a tour around of the Industrial Park was given by the Park’s management.

The delegation also got the chance of visiting the production site of two of the companies who have set up their business in the Industrial Zone. One of the being Unilever who gave us a very interesting tour around their manufacturing grounds.

Early in the morning on Wednesday the delegation then left for the airport to proceed their trip to Rwanda. And from all e-mails exchanged after our trip as well as direct talks during the delegation, we can proudly say that we as africon have now for the third time 100% fulfilled the expectations of our longstanding client, the Ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate as well as their delegates. Each delegate got profound information concerning the Ethiopian business environment as well as business contacts – which made the trip a success for them – which then again makes their trip a success for africon.