ACE Winches applies learnings from recent trade visit to West Africa to identify future business

ACE Winches, leading global deck machinery specialists, has a long history of doing business in West Africa and was honoured to be invited on a trade delegation trip to the region in January 2016.

Elhadji Gano, Sales Manager – Africa and Mediterranean was part of the attending group and commented: “I was thrilled to attend as both myself and ACE Winches, as a company are continuously looking at ways to expand our knowledge and understanding of the regions we are present in.

“One of my biggest learning’s on this trip was the requirement for local content. It is paramount for European countries entering West Africa to understand that they must abide by local content acts in countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, ensuring local workers are provided the skills and training required to work on projects.”

West Africa has taken action in recent years to improve its infrastructure in the region with Nigeria, Ghana and Angola all making positive steps to improve their technical knowledge and capabilities to ensure local businesses are at the forefront of managing projects in the region.

The trade visit also offered the opportunity to network with people and companies that may otherwise have been impossible for ACE Winches to reach quickly.

Elhadji continued: “Scottish Development International did a great job of putting us in front of the right people at organised receptions including one at the British High Commissioner’s house. This was a really enjoyable part of the trip as we were able to gain insight from people on the ground and learn more about the environment they are working in.

“West Africa is such an attractive place to do business, as there are huge potential opportunities and the oil is much easier to extract when compared to areas such as the North Sea. There are certainly challenges ahead but none that cannot be tackled. The government is putting increased pressure on companies to use local content and there is also a growing trend of local businesses being contacted before the government even looks outwith the country. This can create a barrier to entering the market, as it appears that a company needs to have a presence in the region before you are considered for future work.”

Angola currently presents the biggest opportunities for European companies like ACE Winches as the Kaombo project, a $16 billion project in West Africa, is scheduled to start installation later this year so the end client will have high demands for equipment such as winches and manufacturing equipment. 

Alfie Cheyne, CEO, ACE Winches said: “The trade visit to West Africa was a huge success and ACE Winches expects to see an increase in the amount of work we are already doing in the region in the coming years.

“The current oil price is a challenge so it is difficult to forecast but projects will always go on, it’s what drives the industry and ACE Winches will continue to be part of developments in this region.”