AFRICAN CEOs NEED TO THINK MORE GLOBALLY

Truths must be told: Most African companies are local champions.

Recently, I browsed through Forbes magazine's 2008 annual ranking of the top 2000 companies in the world. As always, the list was dominated by American, European and Asian companies. Some of the leading companies were HSBC, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Exxon Mobil.

Only a handful of African companies made it to the list, and they were all South-African companies. There were 17 of them: Naspers, a diversified media conglomerate, Standard Bank, First Rand, both financial institutions, diversified conglomerates Remgro, Barloworld and Bidvest group among others.

While it's a good thing that at least, Africa was represented in the list, I would argue that Africa could do better still. For the fact that only 17 companies in the whole of Africa could make it to the list of 2000 mega corporations, I think we still have a long way to go. I could not help but ask:

Where's Africa's place in big, global business?

Many of the companies who topped the lists were multinational corporations; companies which decided not to limit themselves to doing business in their countries of origin and braved venturing into the uncharted territories of other countries. Citigroup, for example, a financial services institution founded in the United States became a global corporate and financial services giant because its managers dared to think beyond America, and dared to venture into the financial markets of other countries of the world. Today, Citigroup has operations in about 100 countries of the world, employs 385,000 people and ranked 24 in the global ranking of the world's biggest companies.

Citigroup, just like Microsoft, Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and Home Depot among others are where they are today because their founders and managers had a global mindset. They decided to go beyond their local markets and venture into uncharted territory in other countries. These companies have reaped the rewards, becoming global brand names and today their success stories are told even by the least informed persons.

But it's a different scenario here in Africa. Most African companies are content with dominating the markets in their local countries and regions. While it may be argued that at times, some companies' business model may be peculiar to just Africa and hence going global might not be a smart move for the company, it can also be argued that many times, company chief executives prefer to remain in their comfort zones, ignoring growth and expansion opportunities in foreign markets.

Many times, foreign companies establish their presence in Africa and sell their products and services to us. We have several foreign banking institutions such as Citigroup, Barclays and Standard Chartered who are dominating our African banking markets. How many African banks have thought of launching branches elsewhere apart from Africa and probably in markets such as Europe, Asia or the Americas? Nestle, a Swiss food manufacturer feeds Africa with lots of their products. When will a Kenyan, Tanzanian or Nigerian food company establish a presence in Europe or America and feed them with its own uniquely packaged products? Microsoft, SAP and Oracle have offices in Africa from where they sell a diverse range of software services to us, Africans. When will a Nigerian or Ugandan software company dare to expand and launch an office in U.S.A and sell African-made software to the Americans?

I might be mistaken, but I tend to think that Chief executive officers are either too content with being local champions, or are too chicken-hearted to venture into other markets and explore foreign opportunities.

Needless to say, the benefits of a company going global are numerous in the long run. For one, there'll be a reduction of dependence on traditional markets. Companies that market internationally can take advantage of booming export markets. Often, new ideas, new approaches, new marketing techniques learned from exposure from the global marketplace can be successfully applied domestically. Furthermore, companies which have established global sales have a higher value than strictly domestic companies.

Africa needs more companies with a global outreach. If Africa is ever going to find a place among the global powers that be, we need to market more African ideas and businesses to the rest of the world. It would be a good thing for Africa to have corporations and brands that would be recognized around the world. I look forward to good times when a Kenyan Biscuit company would be selling Kenyan-made biscuits in the United States and Europe, and software made by an African software company being sold in various countries.

It could happen. All we need are visionary CEOs who would go back to the drawing boards, strategize, damn the consequences, take their companies to the next level, and take on the rest of the world.

Mfonobong Nsehe is a communications student at Daystar University, Kenya.