Portuguese companies are keen to enter and grow in the Mozambican market, which they define as having “enormous potential”, despite the crisis that still persists after the covid-19 restrictions.
“Mozambique is a market with huge investment potential,” José Simões, head of Cegid in Mozambique and Angola, explained to Lusa. He is one of nine Portuguese companies exhibiting their brands at Mozambique’s biggest trade fair, Facim.
The software management company, which is the result of the merger of Primavera and Eticadata, has been operating in Mozambique for more than 20 years and today, in the Portuguese pavilion, it is looking to strengthen its presence in the country, increasing the portfolio of around a thousand clients it already has.
“We are already leaders and we want to strengthen our presence,” said José Simões.
With the restrictions imposed by covid-19 in recent years, the African country’s technology sector market has grown, despite the challenges that the period has presented, Simões added.
“Covid-19 has been a very complicated time for all of us. But at the end of the day, for us, despite the challenges, the period has been positive and one of evolution, including for the country itself, which has had to adapt to new challenges,” he noted.
But the period described as positive for Cegid has not been pleasant for the Portuguese business community in other sectors, such as the Mota Egil group, which has seen at least three of its main projects, linked to gas megaprojects, suspended due to terrorism in northern Mozambique, as well as covid-19.
“At the moment, the Mozambican market is in a transitional phase. We still have megaprojects on hold. We have great prospects, not least because we have two major projects in the megaprojects [the construction of two piers in gas exploration by the French company Total in Afungi],” Aníbal Leite, executive editor of the construction company Mota-Engil Africa, told Lusa.
Despite the challenges, the Portuguese group Mota-Engil is looking to the Mozambican market with good projections, with at least 30 projects underway, most notably the rehabilitation of National Road Number 1, the main road, and the construction of a courthouse.
“We haven’t grown, but we’ve maintained consistency and a very interesting record. But we have no doubt that with the resumption of work on the megaprojects, with other associated projects, I believe that Mozambique is already one of Mota Egil’s main markets,” added Aníbal Leite.
The rehabilitation of the country’s main road, which stretches over 2,000 kilometers, will also bring new prospects for the Portuguese pharmaceutical group Azevedos Medis, which points to the deterioration of the road as one of the main challenges in the distribution of medicines in the sector, although it also points out that the Mozambican market has potential.
“For example, the supply of medicines to Nampula takes 15 days (…) The national road has some challenging points and you can’t travel at night. But it’s nothing that can’t be overcome,” Ricardo Santos, general manager of Azevedos Medis in Mozambique, told Lusa.
In general, for the Portuguese business community, Mozambique remains “a market with enormous potential” and now the ambition is to strengthen its presence in the country, which is already “well known”.
“The Portuguese pavilion hasn’t been the biggest at Facim for a few years now, but it’s not the biggest because relations with Mozambique are already very mature, fortunately. There are lots of companies with Portuguese capital that are already Mozambican,” Fátima Vila, director of International Relations at the AIP Foundation, told Lusa.
At the 58th Maputo Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Fair (Facim), which ends on Sunday, around 2,500 Mozambican and foreign companies have been presenting their brands, services and products since Monday.
The number of exhibitors increased this year compared to the previous edition, in which 2,100 Mozambican and foreign companies were represented.
The exhibitors are spread over 12 pavilions, occupying a total area of 30,000 square meters, and the organization expects at least 50,000 people to visit the event.
