Bosch steps up activities in Africa

Component maker Bosch is steadily expanding its presence in Africa. The supplier of technology and services opened two new African branch offices at the end of October 2014 – one in Luanda, the capital of Angola, and the other in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. This brings the total number of African countries in which Bosch has a regional subsidiary or branch office to seven.

These will soon be joined by Algeria and Ghana, where the company is opening two new locations by the middle of next year. These activities underline Africa’s growing significance as an important growth market for Bosch: “The growing middle class, ever more well-educated young people, the continent’s wealth of raw materials – all these point toward positive economic development for many African countries,” said Bosch management board member Uew Raschke. This makes the region attractive for Bosch, he explained. “We can contribute to improving quality of life for local people with our products and services. In this respect, we are concentrating on the needs and demands of the individual markets and of our local customers,” Raschke said.

The new branch offices in Angola and Mozambique will initially focus on the sale of automotive spare parts, workshop concepts, power tools, security systems, and thermotechnology. The expansion of local know-how is also an important concern for Bosch. For instance, the company offers training for local automotive workshops. These are often jointly conducted with local partners, such as automobile associations or other institutions.

Bosch in Africa
Bosch has been present in Africa since 1906. The company’s more than 600 associates in Africa generated total sales of some 340 million euros (Rs 2,606 crore) in 2013. The focus of the company’s activities is currently South Africa, where there are two manufacturing sites, in Brits and Midrand. They primarily manufacture automotive components and assemble packaging machinery. Bosch has further regional subsidiaries and branch offices inEgypt, Morocco, Kenya, and Nigera. In addition, the company’s subsidiary Bosch Rexroth has held a 50 percent stake in its sales partner Hytec Holding since the beginning of October 2014, making it one of the leading manufacturers of hydraulics and drive and control technology in Africa. 

Bosch also actively promotes talented young people in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, it was one of the initiators of Africa kommt!, an initiative of German industry for junior managers from sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2008, Bosch has been part of a group of some 20 companies who offer scholarships to African junior executives so that they can spend a year in Germany completing a professional training program. The goal of the program is to foster mutual exchange and learning between budding African executives and German companies.