SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS DELEGATE SIGNS MULTI-MILLION RAND DEAL IN CHIL

SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS DELEGATE SIGNS MULTI-MILLION RAND DEAL IN CHILE

BY BRIAN KAJENGO

A South African businessman who participated in the Outward Trade and Investment Mission (OTIM) to Peru and Chile clinched a multi-million rand deal with two Chilean companies. Mr Jaco van Wyk of Genesys Workforce Systems says he is very grateful to the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) for providing platforms through which he was able to introduce his products to the Chilean market.

Van Wyk, who specialises in offsite monitoring and asset protection solutions, signed a R9 million deal with a Chilean telecommunications company, Movistar and also a R1 million contract with a local public hospital to provide access control and time and attendance solutions.

According to van Wyk, it all started when his company participated in two mining exhibitions in Chile in April last year and earlier this year. He assisted by the dti on both occasions.

“This is where we were able to introduce our product to the market and were able to meet many of our potential customers. We were able finalise and sign the deals during this OTIM,” he said.

He added that appointing an agent in Chile to coordinate business on his company’s behalf made things a lot easier for him.

“The Chilean businesspeople want to build a relationship and establish trust before they can do business. Having an agent in Chile assisted in that he was able to make follow-ups on the leads we got and further market our products on our behalf,” added van Wyk.

The Johannesburg-based businessman said his projects will kick-off in the next two months. He added that the unwavering support from the dti in terms of provision of recommendation letters helped his company a lot as it was an indication to the Chileans that his company was credible