Interview with Guillaume Dehem, Country Manager of AGS Movers Côte d'Ivoire

Could you give us your assessment of your sector at the moment? What is the outlook?

First of all, we are a removal company. Since the end of the Civil War in 2011, more and more expatriates have been returning to Côte d'Ivoire. The same holds true for investors, diplomats and corporations. For example, the African Development Bank and its 2,000 employees had relocated to Tunisia in the light of the Civil War, but have now returned to Côte d'Ivoire. For our business, the outlook has been good for the past 2 years already. But in any case, being part of a group like ours means that we have plenty of support to withstand difficult times.

Can you explain further?

Our main business comes from relocating expatriates. In recent years, we have seen many people return to the country. They normally stay for two or three years before moving on. This is what our business relies on, the movement of expatriates. However, we know that times are changing and Africa is developing at a fast pace. The numbers of expats with international organisations and corporations are decreasing as more educated locals are employed in senior and mid-management positions.

We have therefore adapted in order to extend our panel of services, and to optimise our warehouse space. Founded on the strong knowledge and expertise of our group worldwide, we have started to develop our records management, i.e. document warehousing, business.

Companies and organisations such as telecommunications companies or banks deal with a lot of documents every day. In most countries, the law dictates that businesses must keep most documents for 10 years. Thus, these companies need to be able to store and then retrieve these documents whenever they need to. Our solution has been developed through the AGS Group. In 2008, we acquired a French records management company, Archiv System. We have since been expanding throughout Africa. Today, Archiv System covers nearly a dozen African countries.

There is more and more local staff employed here, a fact which strongly influences the market. There is going to be a greater demand for storage services and office removals. The nature of the business is slowly changing, in ten or fifteen years it will be very different from what it is now. Our success will no longer rely on diplomats and corporations. When we started our business twenty years ago in Côte d'Ivoire, we were mainly working with the diplomat community in Africa. For the past ten years we have been working with multinational organisations, either international NGOs or multinational companies such as banks and food processing companies. Thus, in recognition of the changes ahead, we have understood that international removals as such will not remain our core business. Rather, we believe the number of moves and transfers within Africa will grow as there are more and more truly pan-African organisations. Thanks to our presence in over 48 of the 54 African countries today, we can accommodate these kinds of pan-African organisations such as ADB and Ecobank. Our goal at heart is to become an increasingly pan-African company. This is another reason why we have entered the new segment of document warehousing through the Archiv System brand.

How are your activities divided?

Today, the removal business represents 90% of our revenue. In Côte d'Ivoire we only started the archiving business two years ago, it is now taking shape. Quite some investments had to be made in warehousing, computer systems and training. Executive Relocation in Africa is another brand of the group which deals with expatriate mobility issues, for example finding schools and homes, meet and greets at airports, connection to utilities, opening of bank accounts, signing lease agreements and dealing with landlords. Executive Relocations in Africa helps with all the issues an expatriate may encounter when relocating to a foreign country. We have dedicated staff dealing with this business.

What are the main challenges that you face doing business here in Côte d'Ivoire? What is your assessment of the evolution of the economy here?

The economy is booming and the country is developing. However, the years of conflict and crisis still influence working life, especially when working with customs. It is still challenging even though it is getting easier every day. As I said, the economy is booming and the country is developing at a fast pace, which means that everything is changing at the same time. Côte d'Ivoire is trying to catch up on fifteen years of stagnancy at once. However, things do not go back to normal that quickly. There is still quite a lot of bureaucracy, but we believe that the country is on track. I think that investors who already have operations in other parts of the continent, but aren’t thinking about coming to Côte d'Ivoire, should rethink their strategy. If you are not doing business in Côte d'Ivoire today you are missing out on great opportunities. We started our business twenty years ago and have never left the country or closed our operations. Our group has a strong footprint in Africa and is operating all over the continent. Our heart is here and we are aiming at covering all 54 African countries by 2016; we call this the “Africa 54 Project”. We will be the first and only private company to cover the entire continent. Our mission is to be everywhere. We invest in infrastructure, we for example purchase land and build warehouses and offices, all as per the latest global standards for our existing and future activities. For example, the African Development Bank and other organisations will have their warehousing needs covered. We are heavily investing in Côte d'Ivoire.

What does the return of the African Development Bank signify for the country?

There could not be a clearer or more positive sign that the country and its people aim to have business running as it was 20 or 25 years ago when Côte d'Ivoire really was something special in this region. An organisation like the African Development Bank would not come back if it was not convinced of the country´s stability - because that is what comes first, political stability. We believe that Côte d'Ivoire is politically stable and that it will remain so. The return of such a great organisation bears witness of enduring political stability, which is very important both for the Ivorian people and investors.

How would you describe your competitive advantages? Is this a competitive market?

We are in a competitive market with a long history. I would not say that there are new players, but rather old players like ourselves who have been in the country for twenty years. Although we are part of an international group, we are a family business. Our advantage is that we are both local experts and part of a big international group. Our footprint in and expertise of Africa are unique. There are two to four main competitors in this market and there are other small players that do smaller jobs.

What is your vision for the development of your company? You have worked in different regions in Africa so you have a lot of experience. How would you say that the group is going to develop?

Our group covers the whole world and has presence in Europe, Africa and Asia mainly. But Africa remains at the centre of the group. In October 2016, we will be celebrating that we are the first private organisation to be present in all 54 African countries with our partners. In line with our international business orientation, we will celebrate in three major cities of the world, namely London, Paris and Johannesburg. We have built a unique network and business model. We gain our strength and resources from our strong European base and invest in and all over Africa. We have the support of important banks and organisations such as the French Agency for Development to develop our activities in Africa through the various businesses we have and the new businesses we are going to develop.

That makes sense because this is where the growth is.

Definitely. This is what we understood twenty years ago already, before anyone else. We believed that we would outclass any other player entering the market because we have gained so much knowledge and experience already. We have really formed part of each country’s development. Every day poses new challenges even in the region’s more developed countries such as Côte d'Ivoire. We are constantly solving the problems that occur. In this challenging environment you have to put a lot of energy into finding the right solutions.

How do you see the group developing here in Côte d'Ivoire over the next 3 years? Where would you like to be ranked?

I see us being in our own facilities built in accordance with the latest global industry standards and technologies. This is something we really want to achieve. We have the land and we want to begin building on it. It is very important for our group to have its own facilities in Africa. For years and years we have been in unstable environments which is why we never dared to buy and build.

We definitely see ourselves maintaining our position as number one business for international, local and office removals as well as now records management.

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