Botswana sparkles in Alexander Forbes' stable

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Friday August 2, 2013 00:00

 

According to figures contained in its annual report, Botswana's contribution was the second highest after Namibia which made up 47 percent of the net revenues for the year. Kenya and Nigeria, contributed 17 and two percent respectively.Collectively referred to as AfriNet, Alexander Forbes' African operations also include Malawi, Mauritius, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The AfriNet cluster contributed five percent to the group's net revenue during the year, up from four percent the previous year. According to the annual report, Alexander Forbes' Botswana operations recorded a 24 percent increase in revenue during the review year and 26 percent year on year growth in trading profit.

'In the year under review, I am delighted that an above average growth rate in earnings has been achieved, despite the challenging economic and political environments in the various countries which we serve,' said AfriNet managing director, Luendran Pilay.'The year under review was a year of recovery and repositioning and this is likely to continue into 2013/14. Further geographic expansion into Africa is likely to follow an Anglophone footprint, building on language, cultural and legislative synergies with our core markets of the Southern African Development Community, Kenya and Nigeria'.

Group chief executive Edward Kieswetter said the financial services giant would consolidate its African operations around Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, whilst initially exploring opportunities in selected countries in East and West Africa.AfriNet operations represent one of Alexander Forbes' three growth pillars and the group says there has been significant effort expended in ensuring that value is created in this unit.Currently, Alexander Forbes' AfriNet unit provides products or services to approximately 300,000 salaried professionals in the rest of Africa, compared with 900,000 in South Africa alone.