Archive d’étiquettes pour : market study

Slide of the month (SOTM) July. Investment horizon in Africa

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africon GmbH has made over 130 interviews with sub-Saharan African steel manufacturers between 2016-2017. In these interviews, one of the key issues holding back Western manufacturers was the risk perception of management, reflected in the preferred payback periods of the machinery. The management of steel companies was hesitant to make too large investments in machinery that would require long payback periods, mainly because of political, regulatory and other economic risks. The preferred payback horizon is 2-5 years, whereas most high-end Western equipment requires 8-12 years of payback time in Africa. Providing machines that fits risk perception or intended payback period is one of the main challenges of western engineering companies.

 

 

Slide of the month (SOTM) June. Automotive Kenya vs. Nigeria

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In two different projects, both concerning the automotive industry in Kenya and Nigeria, africon has been conducting more than 65 interviews with vehicle assemblers, coach builders, repair garages and distributors of vehicles. Aim was to understand the current maintenance of windscreens in Africa to develop a go-to market strategy for a leading adhesives company.

These interviews as well as the analysis of general market data shows that the size of the automotive market in Kenya and Nigeria is quite different, which comes naturally when looking at the size of the population (46,05 million in Kenya vs. 182,2 million in Nigeria). But the proportion of new vs. second hand vehicles is very much the same.

Having 75% and 80% of second hand vehicles cruising the streets in Kenya and Nigeria the market for spare parts as well as chemical materials needed in the repair sector – like adhesives, sealants, paints, etc – is huge.

 

 

Slide of the month (SOTM) May. Steel investment Africa

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During 2016 – 2017 africon GmbH conducted over 130 interviews with the management of sub-Saharan African steel manufacturers. In these interviews, we were able to discover that the current steel plant equipment and machinery market is dominated by low-price segment mainly consisting of Chinese and second-hand equipment. However, discussion with top managers on future investments in the next 10 years, the steel plant equipment landscape will change dramatically. Most of the new growth will come from mid-high price segment, with a total market share of over 50 % by 2025. This will open up great opportunities for steel plant engineering companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

 

Slide of the month (SOTM) March. Kenyan mobile money transfers

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Mobile money has become the most important money transfer system in Kenya by far, in contrast to the European continent where people mostly stay suspicious to such paying systems. africon GmbH with its long-term experience in the payment sector did a research for a leading manufacturer of chip for payment cards. In this context, the Kenyan market of banking and credit cards has been analysed and an important data base including information from more than 50 expert interviews in Nigeria and Kenya with banks, personalization bureaus, distributors and other key organisations was constituted. Thanks to this extensive research, africon can resume that the Kenyan banking market is saturated. Investments into this sector can hardly be profitable besides banks and telcos who still buy payment cards. The Nigerian market currently shows a strong margin drop for payment chips and new technologies are being explored by banks and payment providers. Nevertheless, the dynamic development of mobile money is an important opportunity for the IT sector and internet security companies.

 

 

Slide of the month (SOTM) December. Tractor brands in Nigeria

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The slide of the month December illustrates the market shares of different tractor brands in Nigeria which was researched in a large filter project over the past 6 months. The market leader is New Holland with about 20% of the present tractors in the country, followed by John Deere and Mahindra. Different Chinese products also take a big part of 20% on the market and are partly locally produced within a SKD production. As africon GmbH we believe that the market in Nigeria will continue to grow strongly as various initiative programs by the government will drive local production and imports.