{"id":1360,"date":"2015-11-25T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2016-10-27T14:37:49","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T13:37:49","slug":"alliances-the-key-to-new-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/2015\/11\/25\/alliances-the-key-to-new-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Alliances: The Key to New Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week was a high-energy one for me.<\/strong> A group of top-level executives from Kenya and Nigeria came to IESE. This week is part of their programs back at Strathmore Business School <\/a><\/strong>and Lagos Business School<\/a><\/strong>. I say the week was high-energy for me because I get re-energized whenever I am with Africans,<\/strong> as one of my colleagues tells me. I spent Monday morning teaching them, and participated in several activities throughout the week.<\/p>\n

\"Alliances:<\/a>
Alliances: a main topic of conversation at this forum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of particular interest was a session in which both Africans and Europeans shared their views about market opportunities in the continent. The need to create alliances between companies from both sides came across bluntly.<\/p>\n

One of the speakers noted\u00a0that many foreign companies want to enter African markets with 100 % ownership. \u201cThe moment you don\u2019t include locals, you are already at disadvantage,\u201d<\/strong> he said. Instead, if the local company shares ownership they\u2019ll be proud of that business and will be highly motivated to make it work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For alliances to work, both partners need to feel at par.<\/strong> There\u2019s a risk that Western companies entering alliances position themselves as the ones contributing the most to value creation. This is a huge mistake. Each African market has its own peculiarities, as I try to show through this blog. And it\u2019s anything but easy for a newcomer to succeed. As an example, take a look at one of my posts on the Nigerian real estate industry<\/a>. The need to partner with local companies that contribute market knowledge is critical.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I loved the comment by one of the people in the audience: \u201cCome and engage! But treat us as educated people. In partnering, we\u2019re not going to do the \u2018donkey work\u2019 [\u2026] And if the rest of the world doesn\u2019t want to take the opportunity, we\u2019ll take it!\u201d I have no doubts this will be the case.<\/p>\n

Having taught them about alliances on Monday, I hope to have made a contribution \u2013 even if modest \u2013 to the future of Africa.<\/p>\n

Are you thinking of entering an African market? Are you already thinking about how to find a partner there?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week was a high-energy one for me. A group of top-level executives from Kenya and Nigeria came to IESE. This week is part of their programs back at Strathmore Business School and Lagos Business School. I say the week was high-energy for me because I get re-energized whenever I am with Africans, as one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":1362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85385,77626],"tags":[100348,7952,157,100345,80747,1080,95121,1178,67297],"class_list":["post-1360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-doing-business-in-africa","category-entrepreneurship-in-africa","tag-african-market","tag-alliances","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-lago-business-school","tag-management-style","tag-nigeria","tag-ownership","tag-real-estate","tag-strathmore-business-school","megacategoria-mc-africa"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t