When entrepreneur Benjamin Chua, 35, caught wind of a business delegation that was headed to South Africa and Kenya in May, he signed up immediately as he was looking to find out more about Kenya’s market.
The founder of cleaning technology company Speco makes a machine that automatically sanitises rooms and repels mosquitoes, and its partner was setting up education centres in Kenyan cities and wanted Chua’s machines in the classrooms.
Just midway into the week-long trip, Chua said he was seriously considering another proposal pitched to him by a South African counterpart he met during a networking session in Cape Town.
The South African firm, which makes plastic piping for water projects, said it wanted to apply Speco’s coating technology to its pipes for use in wastewater treatment plants.
“Who knew that when we started meeting more South African companies, more ideas would pop up, more opportunities would arise?” he asked. “And of course, we will jump on these opportunities.”
The business delegation was organised by the Singapore Business Federation to coincide with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s official visit to South Africa and Kenya, which ended last Thursday.
Called an overseas market workshop, such a delegation is organised regularly to different countries. It is aimed at helping Singapore firms understand the intricacies of doing business in these markets, while also providing a platform for them to meet potential trade and investment partners.
Of the 21 companies in the delegation, 17 were small and medium-sized enterprises, of which a sizeable number were stepping foot in Africa for the first time, said deputy delegation leader V Srivathsan. — The Straits Times/ANN
