What Business to start in South Africa?

From today, we are starting a series of posts focused on ideas to start a profitable business in Africa . We will present them segment by segment. Here are 10 ideas to start a business targeting expatriates in your country.

Overall, our purpose is to simulate your mind, and encourage you to start your next business in Africa.

1. International Aid and investment segment opportunities

The international aid for Africa is a $40-billion-a-year industry. Most of this, is easy money to take, mostly for corruption and overpaid expatriates; however smart startups would be wise to explore the needs of this huge international organizations full of the laziest people in the planet always in search of someone to do their job for them or make their life easier. Here is a list of 10 ideas to create customized services or application for their use:

#1: Personal Service provider for local expatriate

More and more foreign people are heading to Africa, the last frontier of economical opportunities. Additional to the foreign aid employees, there are also more and more expatriates coming to Africa with the $48 billion-a-year foreign investment in Africa Business.

In some cities like Nairobi, Luanda, Dakar, Accra, Addis-Ababa these expatriates are thousands. They are rich, noisy, visible. They have very specific needs compared to local people.

Any smart company that would successfully create a set of services (travel, visas, registration, residency status, dual nationality questions, legal issues of marriage and divorce, visa runs) for this community in any given country, could easily expand the same concierge service to other countries. There is lot of money here waiting for smart and opportunist entrepreneurs.

#2 First-world quality Internet, mobile services or application customized for local environment

These guys have money. They are used to some first-world internet and mobile service they won’t have locally. It’s important to study their daily life in your city, survey them about their needs, and find out about things that might be very helpful for them to survive in Africa jungle. They will thank with their easily earned dollars and smiles.

#3 Food delivery for infrastructure/construction workers

It’s the easiest and quickest way to become rich. Design a mobile food service specialized in construction sites. You move your restaurant to serve breakfast, lunch, snacks, sandwich and casual drink close to the workers. You move and follow the sites. You are the first to know all new construction sites where will be hundreds of workers and expatriates. Deliver good food, cheap, and fast with a friendly touch.

There are hundreds of construction sites in many countries, financed by foreign aid or investment.

#4 Online expat forums

There are many expatriates forums online, but very little cover African countries, with ground information and assistance.