RE: South African BE Office?

[Mike Fortey <forteymj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Logistically, the office should be closer to the
> largest airport.  A larger
> airport is essential for a regional office, which
> will have to fly
> operatives all over the continent... 

Jo-Burg has Jan Smutts airport

> I don't think Cape Town
> has quite as much
> traffic, but that could be a matter of perception.

Jo-Burg does have more traffic, but Capetown is a
port.

> Something to take into account is that life is
> pretty different in South
> Africa.  Some friends of mine lived and worked in
> Pietermaritzburg and said
> that concepts like "deadlines" or "past due" didn't
> exist within the
> culture.  

That's actually true in most of the world =P. Work
ethics vary an awful lot throughout the world, as any
good international businessman will tell you. 

> It was really difficult to try to get
> things done because you
> would expect things to be there or ready to do
> business and the locals
> wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't there nor would
> they really care.  It's
> really difficult for an external company to apply
> outside business models to
> the South African situation with any chance of
> success.

But this is true in any over-seas country that BE/BE
operates in. Even between the US, UK and Germany,
there are HUGE differences in the way things are done.
 
> Airlift
> capability, for example,
> is important in a large country with a less than
> reliable internal
> transportation system.  

South Africa has a reliable system. Modern highways,
internal flights and 2 of the finest 3 trains in the
world. but yes, air transport is nice. South africa
isn't that huge, though.

> I would suspect that there is
> room for a high end
> hospital in Johannesburg which could guarantee HIV
> free blood and sterile
> treatment areas. 

Wow, it's not a third world country. Decent private
hospitals do screen.

There's probably more scope for work in SA alone than
almost any other country in the world. In my eyes, a
SA office would far from preclude another African
office.

Mike

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