The Corporate Council on Africa Business Linkages Program - CCA’s Business Linkages Program creates trade and investment opportunities for CCA members, and identifies suitable Africa-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to incorporate into global supply chains.
 

President Barack Obama, shown here during his 2006 visit to a CCA/SAIBL-supported company in South Africa

South African International Business Linkages (SAIBL)

Since 1998, SAIBL has increased market-driven employment opportunities in South Africa and has developed the capacity and competitiveness of South African SMEs. SAIBL has linked the SMEs to trade opportunities with domestic and international business partners. While South Africa is SAIBL’s primary country focus, the program also explores opportunities for its South African companies in countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, throughout the rest of the African continent and in the United States.

SAIBL assists U.S. companies by identifying procurement sources and promoting business partnerships with South Africa’s historically disadvantaged companies. SAIBL services include:

• Identifying qualified suppliers of goods and services
• Screening of qualified business partners based on company criteria
• Import/export facilitation
• Supporting suppliers to meet buyer requirements
• Identifying trade and investment opportunities
• Identifying private and public partnerships

With offices in eight of South Africa’s nine provinces, SAIBL works in several sectors, including manufacturing, automotive, wine, agribusiness, giftware, and service sectors such as tourism and business process outsourcing. SAIBL addresses the supply and demand needs of South African SMEs, and works closely with corporations in South Africa to strengthen business linkages between big business and SMEs.

Since its inception, SAIBL has helped make happen more than $1.5 billion in transactions for its South African clients, and $130 million in exports, including $30 million in exports to the U.S. The program has created more than 17,000 jobs in South Africa, and consistently is reported as having one of the highest returns on investment for direct job creation. SAIBL’s contribution to the South African government’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment policy has resulted in job creation for historically disadvantaged South Africans, and an increase of Black-owned SMEs exporting, supplying, and doing business with large corporations.

The program is funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

For more information contact SAIBL Project Director Tim Bergstrom at (202) 835-1115 or tbergstrom@africacncl.org