South African Business 2016 edition

INTERVIEW The riches of

INTERVIEW The riches of Africa await Kutoane Kutoane, the much-travelled CEO of the Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC), is excited about the opportunities Africa has to offer. ECIC CEO, Kutoane Kutoane PROFILE The vision of the Export Credit Insurance Corporation SOC Limited (ECIC) is to be the leaders in the medium and long-term export credit and investment insurance business, focusing on project fi nance underwriting, customer needs, and prudent portfolio and risk management. Their mission is to facilitate and encourage South African export trade by underwriting export credit loans and investments outside South Africa, which will help contractors win international capital goods and services contracts. What gives you the most confidence about the economic growth potential across the African continent? Most African economies have been growing at a phenomenal rate over the past 10 years, sometimes at double digits, and if one looks into the future I think the growth tempo is going to be kept up. There is good potential as I think the fundamentals are good. Of course, at any moment there is a shifting of politics or uncertainties over policies such as, for instance, the current visa regulations, then the attitude of foreign investors can effect investment in the short term. It’s very important that South Africa achieves a robust economic climate or a strong investment climate because, as we always, say it’s the gateway to Africa. Most companies would want to set up shop in South Africa as a prelude to their penetration of other sub-Saharan African countries, but unless we get our act together we may miss out on some of the lucrative export potential that is waiting to be invested. What is the attitude of foreign investors towards SA? Their attitude is extremely positive, although I must add that foreigners are very conscious of the level of skills in South Africa and the fact that it is affecting our ability to innovate and to be able to offer high-quality, hi-tech products. This can also lead to structural constraints for our economy, especially in terms of a lack of capacity, such as in the energy sector, either the disruptions of electricity or the core supply. The important thing for investors to see is that we are dealing with these issues, that the South African government is actively trying to avoid these big issues. It’s important that we are seen as the trendsetters in some of these areas, but it takes time, a lot of effort and a lot of investment from both the government and the private sector. Have there been any recent changes in terms of the ECIC’s business strategies? We are the insurers of last resort, so either clients will come directly to us or the banks themselves will come and seek insurance cover for credit that they want to give to their clients. Recently we have adjusted that approach and we have said that, given that we are the risk carriers of last resort, we should be getting closer to the customer. Key markets that we are looking at are the West African region, Central Africa and East Africa, so we are beginning to put SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2016 58

INTERVIEW The Moma titanium mine plant in Mozambique. our people into those key markets to deal with the dynamics and try to build capacity in those areas. We want them to be aware of our abilities and to know what the ECIC can do in order to enable them to import from our manufacturers. So we’ve taken a more pro-active stand in support of the government’s export grading. How bright is Africa’s star shining in terms of the export industry? At the Trade and Export Finance conference people from various sectors looked at Africa as the next growth front, and there’s a lot of frenzy to get the deals out of Africa and we’re seeing large amounts of infrastructure spend being invested, and that’s because there’s been a lot of stability in a lot of countries. Africa is the shining star – it’s rising and everybody is looking at that. However, not every bank will reposition themself towards compliance with that, and that could limit liquidity availability for long-term fi nancing. This is where we come in, as we will elect panels for projects, which is more convenient for long-term investments. What excites you about the export market in the coming years? I think the most important thing is that we are able to diversify our export market. We’ve been close to almost 40% building of commodities, but we’d like to grow to about 90% being more of manufactured goods, value-added product and all those kind of things. That’s the kind of market that we want to capture because it’s a manifestation of proper growth. So we are looking at the potential to benefi ciate and to contribute towards the regional integration of our African continent. That is going to require a concerted effort to improve trade relations, trade infrastructure, logistics and everything else within our continent, but in turn it will unlock South Africa’s potential in terms of being the almost natural export market. Is there anything you’d love to see South Africans creating or manufacturing? Absolutely – that would have to be the cars of the future, in particular vehicles that utilise renewable energy. Imagine if you can park your car in the sun when you get the offi ce and you know that you’ll have a ‘full tank’ when you drive home. We’ve got so much sun, so you have to ask: what are you doing with it? It’s natural. The fi rst gold being poured at Liberia’s Liberty Gold Mine. 59 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2016