Slide of the month

SOTM May. The aftermarket for commercial vehicles in South Africa

13. August 2019/in Slide of the month /by Jean Wandimi

In late 2018, africon conducted a project on the independent aftermarket (IAM) for commercial vehicles in South Africa. The target of the project was to identify potential partners that are not only suitable, but also themselves interested to take up business with the client. Along the way, we scanned partners of most of Europe´s big […]

SOTM April. Ghana’s aluminium fabrication market

8. July 2019/in Slide of the month /by Jean Wandimi

africon was contracted to conduct a research on Ghana’s aluminium industry. The objective was to attain profound understanding of the aluminium profiles market in Ghana, as well as to identify and access the right customers our client. The overall market for aluminium profiles in Ghana is split into three price/quality segments: Firstly, premium profiles are […]

SOTM March. Kenya’s construction and real estate sector

12. June 2019/in Slide of the month /by Jean Wandimi

africon GmbH was contracted by one of our clients and we successfully conducted a research on the aluminium industry in Kenya. We found out that the key drivers of this industry are the construction and real estate sectors in Kenya. Findings revealed that these sectors have experienced positive growth rates within the last five years […]

Automotive parts import Sub-Saharan Africa.

SOTM February. Automotive parts imports in Sub-Saharan Africa

30. April 2019/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

africon conducted a market analysis on the automotive industry with specific interest in the automotive parts market in sub-Saharan Africa. Our focus was further narrowed down to the aggregate value of three main automotive service parts which are: Filters (consisting of air filters for internal combustion engines, as well as Oil or petrol filters for […]

SOTM. January

SOTM January. The automotive parts market in Nigeria

13. March 2019/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

The Nigerian automotive industry appears to be an interesting market, as our research on the automotive parts market shows that the market size is worth USD 4.4bn or more. The total vehicles in operation in Nigeria is currently estimated at 12.7 million, and Nigerian drivers spend an average of USD 350 on automotive parts per […]

SOTM December

SOTM December. Aluminium market growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

11. March 2019/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

africon recently conducted aluminium market research in Africa and this revealed that the Aluminium market in sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing a steady growth in the past decade. The major contribution to this, is the increased import of hollow profiles of aluminium alloys into Sub-Saharan Africa which has grown by 467%, from 23 mn tonnes […]

Market entry project

SOTM November. Market entry project for a US communication company

8. March 2019/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

africon was contracted to carry out a market assessment and recommend a suitable Africa strategy for a major international player in the two-way radio communication industry. The project had 7 countries of focus where a total of 184 interviews were conducted with the relevant players in the industry. The results concluded from the analysis of […]

Trade Fair in East Africa

SOTM October. Trade fairs in East Africa

4. February 2019/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

As official representative of Messe Dusseldorf in East Africa we are today taking a closer look at the trade fair market in East Africa. Especially, Kenya has developed as hub for exhibitions and conferences during the past years and serves as gateway to a vital region. But also the neighbouring country are hosting various types […]

Fish waste in ghana

SOTM September. Fish Waste In Ghana

5. December 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

For this slide of the month our West Africa team has done in-depth research on the fish sector in Ghana. The value chain analysis shows that despite partly very modern and efficient fish production there is still a huge food loss during processing, packaging and logistics. This challenge means also a great potential for investments […]

SOTM August. East Africa BOPP Demand

12. November 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

This slide of the month tries to shed some light on the BOPP market in East Africa. BOPP demand has been growing at a remarkable pace of over the past decade driven mainly by the booming food industry, rapid urbanization and modernization of retail channels. BOPP use more than doubled from 2010 to 2016 and […]

Plastic packing Nigeria

SOTM July. Plastic Packaging in Nigeria

18. October 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

This slide of the month tries to shade some light on the plastic packaging sector in Nigeria. Nigeria’s packaging industry is projected to be worth $294 billion by 2020, up from $178 billion in 2012. Local market experts further suggest the market is 15 years behind India and about 30 years behind Europe but it […]

Key capabilities of German firms in Nigeria

SOTM June. Key Capabilities of German Firms in Nigeria

17. October 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

This slide shows the result of a recent study of one of africon´s employees. Aim was to identify firm capabilities, that have an impact on various aspects of performance of German companies operating in Nigeria. The study was based on existing research findings, as well as a survey of senior staff of 40 German firms […]

renewable energy generated in Africa

Slide of the month May. Renewable Energy In Sub-Saharan Africa

24. September 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

The African continent offers an ideal environment for electricity generation from renewable sources. Therefore, it is not surprising that sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) already ranks third worldwide in terms of percentage of electricity generated through renewable sources. Roughly 27% of electricity generated in 2015 was generated through renewable sources. Lesotho, Ethiopia, D.R. Congo, Central African Republic, […]

Slide of the month April. Motorcycles in Operation in Egypt

17. September 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

The African automotive markets are meanwhile one of africon´s absolute strongholds. The company has won and executed projects in the areas of e.g. assembly machinery, engine filters, ignition products and general spare parts in countries ranging from Nigeria in the West, Kenya and Tanazania in the East, Egypt in the North and South Africa in […]

Plastic in Nigeria

Slide of the month March. Plastic Ban in Sub-Saharan Africa

11. September 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

In 2017 and 2018 africon conducted two market assessment projects for major international players of the plastic packaging sector. Both projects had Nigeria as their focus market and more than 100 interviews were conducted with all relevant players of the plastic packaging sector locally. The results concluded from the analysis of all interviews and market […]

Slide of the Month February. Steel Industry Growth In Africa.

5. September 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

Since 2015, africon won various clients and executed a multitude of projects in the steel industry. The hightened interest in the African steel markets can partly be explained by this chart: it shows the rapidly increasing demand for steel in Africa, as well as key countries for steel in Africa. As part of the projects, […]

Slide of the Month January. Prices of Chips Used in Card Payment in Nigeria

30. August 2018/in Slide of the month /by Abdul

In 2016 africon was contracted to create a detailed overview on the debit and credit card market in Nigeria. Aim of the client was to understand the key personalisation bureaus in Africa, the market potential for payment modules and local pricing. Within 60 interviews with banks, personalisation bureaus, IT companies and experts in the market […]

Slide of the month December – Water Industry in sub-Saharan-Africa

20. April 2018/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

The share of investments in the water sector in SSA is relatively small at 9.7% compared to other infrastructure sectoral financing according to the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (2016). The region’s water access flounders at 40% (World Bank 2017). Whereas industrial wastewater is aiding the deterioration in water quality, resulting in reduced biodiversity in rivers, […]

Slide of the month October – Automotive industry in sub-saharan Africa

9. February 2018/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

In the past three years, africon has conducted extensive market research projects on the automotive industry in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, the market for automotive filtration in Kenya and Tanzania was analysed in detail. During the project, 60 senior level industry players from authorities, key automobile traders and leading parts distributors, more than 300 consumers, […]

Slide of the month November – Aluminium foil

16. February 2018/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

After growing its expertize in the African packaging markets throughout the last 5 years, africon supported a leading aluminium foil supplier to the flexible-, laminated carton, cigarette- and blister packaging industry with the development of its Africa strategy. 53 key industrial players were interviewed, including 11 packaging manufacturers in South Africa and 12 packaging manufacturers […]

Slide of the month September – Woodworking machinery importation

8. January 2018/in africon, Slide of the month /by Karolin Heinrich

During a recent project conducted by africon with focus on the wood working machinery market in Nigeria, africon GmbH identified 107 furniture manufacturing companies and 14 machine distributors focusing specifically on the furniture manufacturing market. By holding expert interviews with a big number of manufacturers and distributors it became quite clear that the furniture manufacturing […]

Slide of the month August – Plastic Pipes

21. November 2017/in Slide of the month /by Karolin Heinrich

During a period of 3 years africon GmbH conducted more than 140 interviews with manufacturers of plastic pipes as well as distributors, hardware stores, construction companies and contractors in 11 countries in west and east Africa. Through all these interviews africon gathered extensive knowledge on the local manufacturing market of plastic pipes, the importation […]

Slide of the month August – Plastic Pipes

20. November 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

During a period of 3 years africon GmbH conducted more than 140 interviews with manufacturers of plastic pipes as well as distributors, hardware stores, construction companies and contractors in 11 countries in west and east Africa. Through all these interviews africon gathered extensive knowledge on the local manufacturing market of plastic pipes, the importation as […]

Slide of the month July – Investment horizon in Africa

2. October 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

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 […]

Slide of the month June – Automotive Kenya vs. Nigeria

20. July 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

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 […]

Slide of the month May – Steel investment Africa

7. July 2017/in Slide of the month /by Karolin Heinrich

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 […]

Slide of the month April – Spark plug market Nigeria

27. April 2017/in Slide of the month /by Karolin Heinrich

Within a large independent aftermarket (IAM) project in the automotive sector for Nigeria, africon GmbH had the chance to interview more than 50 experts and found that the IAM market in Nigeria is strongly dominated by fake products. A good example is the spark plug market where fakes in 2015 were at 65% but increased […]

Slide of the month March – Kenyan mobile money transfers

30. March 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

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 […]

Slide of the month February – Segmentation of the Nigerian sanitary market

20. March 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

The slide of the month January showed that Western Africa is a very active region for hotel development. The rise of the construction sector also drives the need of interior design and sanitary products. Two third of the total Nigerian turnover in sanitary products come from retail business. Only one third of the products are […]

Slide of the month January – Development of hotels in Africa

30. January 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

Some African countries are known for its dynamic tourism such as Kenya and Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Idyllic pictures of Safari-tourists can be drawn out of this imagination. However, the hotel industry that is also linked to business travelling is the most prospering in Western Africa. The first slide of the month in […]

Slide of the month December – Tractor brands in Nigeria

9. January 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

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 […]

Slide of the month November – Steel industry and governmental decisions

2. January 2017/in africon, Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

While the slide of the month October showed an increasing demand of steel in African countries, the slide of the month November analyses the government’s role in steel projects. A serie of 101 interviews with executive managers in the steel industry showed, that in countries having an incentive program for steel projects, politicians have real […]

Slide of the month October – Numbers on steel in Africa

2. January 2017/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

The slide of the month October shows that more and more steel is used on the African continent while steel production does not increase significantly. This gap must be disserved by imports but it also indicates interesting investment possibilities for the steel processing industry. Seeing the need of steel increasing, we can also resume that […]

Slide of the month September – Construction machinery imports to Nigeria

15. December 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

The slide of the month September, which was created during a large IAM automotive and off-highway project, shows a drastic decrease of construction machinery imports to Nigeria since 2014. Close to the last presented slide about vehicle inflow to Nigeria, statistics show an important downwards trend of the automotive sector in general. The number of […]

Slide of the month August – Vehicle inflows Nigeria

21. September 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

With the upcoming interst in Nigeria of various OEM and after market companies, africon GmbH did a comprehensive study on the Nigerian automitive market with focus on OEM production but also on the local spare parts markets. One of the key findings has been that the vehicle inflows to Nigeria have dropped significantly due to […]

Slide of the month July – Payment cards in Nigeria

4. August 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

The slide of the month July shows continuous growth of more than 20% in payment cards for Nigeria. At the moment the total market has got about 42 million cards according to various sources. The major share of payment cards in Nigeria are debit cards with almost 98%. Credit cards have not been popular in […]

Slide of the month June – Steel consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa with growth of more than 7%

21. June 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

The slide of the month June shows a continuous growth of more than 7% in steel consumption in Africa. This offers great opportunities to steel trading companies, companies who supply equipment to steel companies and most importantly it shows the growth on infrastructure in Africa. The largest markets are South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya in […]

Slide of the month April – Medical equipment market Africa

4. May 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

The African market for laboratory equipment has been playing a small role globally with only 2%. However, it is set for growth with more than 8% in 2015 and imports of more than $1,4bn. The greatest chances for companies supplying medical equipment are still in South Africa besides the north African countries. Also Nigeria is […]

Slide of the month March – New vehicle sales in Sub-Saharan Africa

11. April 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

This month our slide shows the strong increase of new vehicles sales in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past 9 years growth has been almost 70% which led Ford, Daimler, Peugeot and others to increase their presence in Africa. Strongest growth has been in Angola and Nigeria.

Slide of the month February – Cultural difference Germany & Nigeria

20. February 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

This month we would like to put emphasis on the cultural differences between Nigerian and German business people. Whereas Nigeria is still very hierachical, Germany has got less power distance. This results in the recommendation for German companies to not send junior staff to Nigeria as this might be interpreted of non seriousness.

Slide of the month January – Import of razor blades into top 5 African countries

21. January 2016/in Slide of the month /by Marc Zander

Every month africon publishes the most interesting project slide. This months the slide shows a more than 10% growth on razor blades in the top 5 African countries for razor blades being South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco. This growth is driven by a growing middle class, strong consumer growth and new grooming habits. […]

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