Irish companies announced contracts and strategic alliances worth over €15m across a range of business sectors as part of this week’s Enterprise Ireland trade mission to South Africa. The mission was led by the Minister of State for Trade and Development, Jan O’Sullivan T.D., and supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Embassy of Ireland to South Africa.
The trade mission of 28 companies marked a major drive to increase the scale of Irish exports to South Africa and the wider Sub-Saharan region.
Minister O’Sullivan announced that Enterprise Ireland will shortly open an office for the first time in the region (in Johannesburg) to support Irish companies win new business, secure alliances, build relationships and networks, and establish a long term presence in the market.
At the end of the highly successful mission Minister O’Sullivan said:
"South Africa is one of the most sophisticated business environments in Africa and the importance of the trade mission for building Ireland’s exports in the area and creating jobs at home cannot be over-emphasised."
"Irish companies are winning more and more business in the region and the potential for continued growth is tremendous. This trade mission, and the work of Enterprise Ireland, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and our Embassy in South Africa are all part of our combined efforts to open doors for Irish companies and help them to secure new business.
"I particularly welcome the establishment of an Irish-South African business network during my visit, with chapters in both Johannesburg and Cape Town and strong support from our Embassy"
Among the announcements made during the trade mission were
· EirGen Pharma, based in Waterford, announced a deal of €3m in a partnership agreement with Equity Pharmaceuticals, a leading South African pharmaceuticals company, to develop and commercially supply five oncology products from their facility in Waterford.
· Clarigen, the HR software solutions company, announced a €150,000 contract with Silburn Drake, the Pretoria based human resources organization that will now be rolling out the Clarigen HR management solution to their client base within the South African market.
· Azotel, the Cork based technology company, announced a new contract with Wirulink Pty Ltd through Multisource, its SA distributor. The value of contracts through Multisource is in the region of €3m over the next two years. Azotel also launched its Broadband Franchise model for Africa during the trade mission.
· TERMINALFOUR, the Dublin based leading Web Content Management (WCM) company, announced that it has won its first African client - South Africa’s Rhodes University. TERMINALFOUR’s WCM solution will play a key role in the creation of Rhodes University’s new website which is at the heart of all its online communication activities.
· Bannow Exports, based in Gorey, Co Wexford announced the transfer of its technology to South Africa with the establishment of Bannow Africa to provide package sewage treatment plants and environmental protection equipment. The Bannow Africa product mix is ideally suited to the South Africa market.
Rennicks GroupHibernia CollegeMindLeaders ThirdForceAdaptiveMobile
, the world leader in mobile security, announced it has successfully completed a mobile content filtering, anti-spam and anti-virus protection project with MTN Nigeria, enabling the operator to protect its network and subscribers from undesired mobile content through mobile handsets and mobile data-enabled PCs. The AdaptiveMobile Network Protection Platform is reducing network load, protecting the operator’s IP reputation from the growing threat of spam-related IP blacklisting and is reducing customer complaints., the global elearning provider, has announced a partnership with a new South African channel partner to spearhead the growing channel partner programme, which makes one of the world’s most extensive portfolios of high quality elearning available across Africa. The company has also this year established a new office in Johannesburg. has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) that will see the two institutions collaborate in providing postgraduate education in the area of Regulatory Sciences. The goal of the collaboration is to make this new programme available to a broader range of students in South Africa through a blend of onsite tuition and web enabled learning announced the signing of a multi million euro agreement with Uniplate Group in South Africa for the supply by Rennicks of vehicle licence plate materials to be marketed throughout the Sub-Saharan region. The signing incorporates the renewal of the Supply Agreement for 2012 worth €1.8 million and the signing of a new Five Year Distribution Agreement for €9.1 million over the term of the agreement. Uniplate is the largest number plate company south of the equator in Africa.
Enterprise Ireland’s Head of International Sales and Partnering, Kevin Sherry said:
"South Africa is recognised as the regional economic powerhouse in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is a growing market where an increasing number of Irish companies are establishing a foothold and securing sales. As the economic gateway to Africa, the market holds major potential for Irish companies to widen their export footprint in South Africa and wider region. Irish exports to South Africa grew by a very impressive 23% last year. This trade mission is about building on that success, assisting more Irish companies to win more business and thereby increase exports, which will directly sustain and create jobs in Ireland".