The sustained success of foreign-owned companies entering the South African market remains contingent on the adoption of cultural sensitivity by the international organisation, as well as the careful selection of a local partner with whom risk and reward could be shared, a delegation of visiting French business representatives heard on Monday.

French logistics group SDV, which has successfully operated in South Africa for several years, advised companies looking to access the local market to be sensitive to the largely Anglo-Saxon-based business context in which local business largely operated, and advised France-based firms to be diligent and patient in their domestic dealings.

“You must keep an open mind when coming into a country like South Africa, which is completely different to what you are used to. In South Africa, business is largely relationship-based, so you must keep your dealings with locals healthy and strong, and remember that deals here are not only made in the office,” an SDV representative said on the second day of the inaugural France¬–South Africa Business Meetings visit, in Johannesburg.

A senior trade adviser for the French Agency for International Business Development (UbiFrance) – the French equivalent of the South African Department of Trade and Industry – added that foreign-owned companies should be patient in their search for a suitable local partner, and should anticipate the search for an appropriate collaborator to take at least 18 months.

“You need to follow up on connections made and keep coming back to build the relationship. Most importantly, know the people you’re working with, and never give up,” she commented.

The Black Business Council’s Pule Mokoena added that his organisation, as well as industry body Business Unity South Africa, was able and willing to unite foreign companies interested in entering South Africa and qualifying locally owned businesses.

“Both organisations have a myriad of local businesses on their books, while also partnering with french employer trade body Le Mouvement des entreprises de France as well as UbiFrance, and would be open to making introductions,” he said during a roundtable discussion.

The three-day event, which was organised in collaboration with UbiFrance, the French-South Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Embassy of France in South Africa, and followed a recent State visit by French President François Hollande in October, would see representatives from 37 French companies meeting with 150 local companies to establish and identify potential commercial synergies.

UbiFrance said in a statement on Monday that South Africa had “significant” needs that could be met by French small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the areas of transport, energy, environment, construction, mining, public works, telecommunications, information and communication technology, health, cosmetics, agriculture and agroprocessing.

“For historical reasons, France has ignored the South African market for a long time, while focusing its economic influence within its traditional spheres of influence. These meetings fall within the renewal of relations between the two countries,” the organisation held.

Over 280 French companies currently had permanent offices in South Africa, employing over 28 000 locals, which French Ambassador to South Africa said underlined South Africa’s position as a “top priority” for France in the African market.

“As the seventh largest foreign investor in South Africa, The South Africa–France Business Meetings fall perfectly within the intensification of our bilateral relations demanded by our leaders, and the context couldn’t be better for our SMEs, considering the recent inclusion of several major contracts between South African and French firms,” she said at the event.

One such contract was a R51-billion deal between the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and french multinational Alstom subsidiary Gibela Rail Transportation, which would see the rail manufacturer supplying 600 passenger trains to the rail transport provider between 2015 and 2025.

The October deal was one of the biggest rail transport contracts worldwide and the largest ever awarded to Alstom.