Mozambique has become a popular destination for the transportation of South African agribusiness exports and Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda have also seen increased movement in this sector, according to HowWeMadeItInAfrica.

Many African governments have a high regard for the skills and expertise of South African agricultural companies, said Hennie Heymans, managing director of DHL Express South Africa in an interview in HowWeMadeItInAfrica. German company DHL handles express delivery services globally and claims to be the world’s largest logistics company.

A lot of the growth in DHL’s business can be seen through transportation of agricultural equipment from South Africa to other countries in Africa, particularly in the movement of spare parts, Heymans told HowWeMadeItInAfrica.

“Then also a lot of documentation as (South Africans) decide to set up businesses abroad,” Heymans said. “So we see a lot of document flow from the sector.”

The calls and inquiries DHL gets are “a lot more agriculture focused than what they were in the past so it is absolutely clear that there is a new and intensified focus from the agricultural sector in South Africa to further expand into Africa,” Heymans said.

Heymans cited several reasons driving this trend, including “the whole issue in South Africa around property rights, and “there is a lot of arable land available all around Africa, as well as water.”

Asked where South African agricultural companies should look to expand in Africa, Heymans said they could follow the investment trail and expansion model of Shoprite. South African retailer Shoprite has been expanding fast across Africa and now does business in 16 African countries. Ensuring the flow of fresh produce to Shoprite in many of these countries is an opportunity South African agriculture companies should consider, according to Heymans.

But each African country is unique and comes with its own thumbprint of challenges, Heymans said. For that reason, small- and medium-sized companies looking to expand in Africa should choose countries where English is dominant – as opposed to French, he said. More often than not, that means “the legal system is based on the English or Dutch legal system which is something that we as South Africans are pretty familiar with,” Heymans told HowWeMadeItInAfrica. Also important is to “choose your partners really, really carefully before you venture into Africa,” he said.

DHL believes South Africa’s agricultural interest in Africa will continue to grow, but, for DHL at least, this growth is not limited to agriculture.

“We are seeing a lot of growth in the mining industry,” he said. “We are seeing a lot of growth in the IT industry. And then also in the medical field there is a lot of (interest). So we are certainly experiencing growth across these sectors at the moment and the agri sector is certainly the latest one that has joined the list of growth sectors for (DHL’s business),” Heymans said.