Marion Edmunds
KMMT BREY, a black Cape Town-based=20 accountancy firm, has won a R3,4-million=20 contract to market eight of South Africa’s=20 nine provinces abroad in a drive for direct=20 foreign investment.
According to Rafiq Bagus, chief executive=20 officer of Investment South Africa, which=20 awarded the contract, KMMT Brey is working=20 with a United States-based consultancy, The=20 Services Group. The two groups together had=20 the capacity and experience to do the=20 marketing necessary to target and attract=20 direct foreign investment.=20
He described KMMT Brey as a “black Deloitte=20 & Touche” with offices and personnel in=20 most provinces.
Bagus said that a similar marketing drive=20 was under way in the Western Cape through=20 Wesgro, and that it had provided a model=20 for projects for the other provinces. Bagus=20 said that about half the cost of the=20 project would be borne by foreign donors,=20 and the other half by the government. The=20 contractors would be working with=20 provincial government officials and the=20 provincial MECs of Finance to work out what=20 each province had to offer foreign=20 investors.
It was hoped that the consultants,=20 particularly those with international=20 experience, would transfer skills to their=20 provincial counterparts through the=20 project, which should be completed by June=20 this year.
The reports released will comprise=20 information on each province’s strengths=20 and will draw on other government studies=20 about investment opportunities around the=20 country.=20
KMMT Brey beat more than 20 other proposals=20 tendered at the end of last year to win the=20 contract. The cheapest tender was less than=20 R300 000, and, according to Bagus,=20 hopelessly inadequate given the task at=20 hand. The team that evaluated the proposals=20 comprised top-ranking government officials=20 in the Department of Trade and Industry,=20 representatives from small and big=20 business, the nine provinces and Investment=20 South Africa.
Bagus said that the awarding of the tender=20 was kept deliberately low-key.