Tve got Africa
UNDER MY SKIN...'
16
talking heads
WHAT'S NewS Issue 9 Octobei 1997
Asked why he loves Africa, Paco den Doop answers
promptly:'Because it's a tough place to do business.
Because every day brings a different challenge. Because
every day is a new day here. As a person, I need diversity.
Africa has it all.' Rabobank International's very outspoken
man in Johannesburg takes the hot seat.
In fact, the hot seat was a
pleasantly cool terrace in the
centre of Amsterdam - Den
Doop was on a brief trip to
Utrecht and took time out for
a talk. A commercial and
marketing animal since
childhood - 'my parents had
their own business. They ate,
slept and dreamed it. That
kind of dedicated focus also
gets under your skin', at least
one of these characteristics is
massaged by the southern
African experience. 'The
beauty of this market is that
there is a demand for
everything. It's a commercial
person's dream. You have to
see South Africa especially as
an emerging market but with
some of the sophistication and
underlying assets you'd find in
a more mature market. As I
said, it's a commercial dream.'
Den Doop talks about an
emerging market here because
of the very specific position of
South Africa until the early
1990s. 'This is a country with
huge natural resources and a
trading tradition. Through its
apartheid policies,
international sanctions had
isolated it from the rest of the
world. Now, you see an influx
of goods and service providers,
including banks. South Africa
and its corporates are highly
desirable these days. That
makes this a fascinating
market to work in.'
Although our rep office has
only been open since early
1996, Den Doop has been
working Sub-Saharan Africa
for over 12 years. 'By
accident,' he says with his big
laugh and in-your-face
frankness - a personal attribute
which probably goes down
extremely well in South
African culture. 'I was with the
international department of
another bank in Holland then.
One day, the boss asked who
spoke French fluently.' His
positive response would result
in an appointment as regional
manager for French-speaking
countries in Africa. Td been
used to markets like Monaco,
parts of Switzerland,
Luxembourg, that kind of
thing. Suddenly, I'm in Africa.'
Not long afterwards, the
colleague handling the English-
speaking African nations left
and Paco picked up a new
work load. 'It's like much of
what has happened in my life -
I discover things that fascinate
me almost by chance.'
His love of researching
markets is a case in point.
After spending quite some time
'not studying law' and doing
his military service, Den Doop
took to travel. 'It was the late
1960s, early 1970s - the hippy
time,' he recalls. 'I went all
over Europe and the Middle
East until I ran out of money.
When I came home, I looked
through the paper and saw an
advertisement for a job as head
of production at a market
research company. It turned
out they wanted an office boy.
I was somewhat overqualified,
so they offered me a research
assistant's job.' From there,
Den Doop went on to head up
the industrial marketing
department. And this is where
his inherent commercialism
came into play. 'It turned out I
was quite successful in selling
our research products,' he says
- almost modestly.
What is it about studying
markets that is so attractive?
'It's probably the digging,' he
says thoughtfully. 'Even before
the IT revolution, there was a
heil of a lot of information out
there - if you knew how to
look. But often it wasn't easily
accessible. Finding it anyway
and building a really good
picture of an industry, that was
the kick. You'd start on a
particular subject with
nothing. In the end, you could
really add value for the
customer because sound
research can help you generate
a real SWOT analysis, giving
you real direction and insight.
Asked if he did a similar
indepth study of the South
African market, he shakes his
head. 'You do different types
of research for different types
of markets or sectors,' he says.
'It depends on how big the
industry is and the number of
players - the less there are, the
more information you need.
For example,' he says, waving
an indicative arm at the
surrounding cafés, 'if you want
to open a bar, you would go
about it in a very different
way. You'd have to study
location, demand locally, that
kind of thing. It's unlike
industrial research, although
the basic principles are the
same. Other factors are
structure and infrastructure in
a particular market. Whether
you're dealing with a saturated
or completely new market.'
In that respect, Den Doop was
able to just dive into South
Africa. 'We didn't need a
sophisticated picture,' he says,
'this is a new market opening
up and what we can offer there
is what the customer wants - at
present. In fact, it is more a
matter of speed, being able to
respond rapidly. With all the
competition, you have to be
fast to get the customers we
love to have.' Our
representative office in
Southern Africa seems to be
doing just that. And in the
flurry of activity and deal-
making it is almost easy to
forget that until very recently
this country was spurned by
the world community.
Paco den Doop hopes to
continue pushing Rabobank as
a real alternative in food and
agribusiness to the whole South
African nation and its northern
neighbours. Having dived into
this challenging, diverse and
potentially lucrative market, he
reckons the Southern African
team is doing quite nicely. 'W
certainly jumped into the deep
end,' he laughs, 'and I think the
1 team would agree we're
certainly waving, not drowning
f out there.'
Paco den Doop on Africa a fascinating market to work in.
