More than half of Pakistani businesses (55 percent) believe there are huge opportunities in Africa today with a further 93 percent of companies expecting the number of opportunities to trade with Africa to increase over the next five years, according to new research from Barclays. The research carried out on behalf of Barclays by the Lahore University of Management Sciences asked 200 companies across five cities about their views of Africa as a place to do business and how great an opportunity Africa is for Pakistani businesses as an emerging market for trade.
South Africa, Kenya and Egypt were named as the top destinations for export opportunities, while Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania were named as the top African nations when it comes to Pakistani imports. Arslan Nayeem, Head of Corporate Banking for Barclays in Pakistan, said that while the findings appeared broadly positive, he strongly believed the potential for Pakistani exporters in Africa was still being significantly underestimated.
He said: "For many exporters Africa is the final frontier, and the vast and diverse nature of the continent and its people can make the trading with Africa seem simply too much of a challenge. However, the infrastructure across many of Africa's largest economies is improving rapidly".
In terms of sectors, more than 70 percent of respondents said the best exporting prospects were for towel and leather goods. Almost 71 percent think that due to infrastructure developments in Africa, cement manufacturers have a big opportunity to maximise the market share. Around 90 percent believe Pakistan's products to be on par or better than competing products in developed countries. And overwhelming 98 percent believe business conditions are improving and will continue to improve in the future.
As Barclays celebrates its fourth year in Pakistan, Shahzad Dada, Chief Executive Officer of Barclays, said: "With more than 50,000 employees on the ground in Africa, we are very well positioned to navigate our local clients around the challenges in the African markets based on the success of our global clients supplying to African companies.-PR