Be picky - Absa Group MD to businesses expanding in Africa

The Managing Director of the Absa Group, George Asante, is advising businesses looking to expand into Africa within this era of the coronavirus to be picky, ensuring they identify countries that will serve their interests well.

He said that while it would be easy to say that businesses should just aim to enter any country at all, it would be more prudent, owing to the times the world is in, to rather be strategic.

"I would I wish to tell you that they should go to this country or that corporate or that corporate, but that is not possible. I think it's really going to be picky. You have to pick where you think you get the best of value.

"So let's say you take government bonds. For countries that actually went into the crisis much stronger and who have been able to navigate the whole debt renegotiation discussion very well and who still have access to global markets and local market, deep liquidity are going to do well. So I would choose those countries over other countries that are obviously struggling," George Asante said.

He made this known to AfricaNews' Ignatius Annor on the back of how the pandemic has created an unusual year for the business community with job losses, pay cuts, and a near halt in investment becoming some of the biggest shocks to businesses on the continent.