Global office expansion for Europlus Direct
A COMPANY set up by a linguist is set to establish further offices in Africa as it capitalises on the growth of sectors including banking and telecommunications on the continent.
Jim Hart told TheBusinessDesk.com that Europlus Direct was set to launch operations in Zimbabwe and Zambia in the next couple of months as part of its contract selling IBM services and support.
The company runs its operations in Africa through a joint venture, Europlus Direct International, headquartered in Mauritius.
It already has offices in Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) and has the capacity to open in around 20 sub-Saharan African countries, Mr Hart said.
He said: “If you look at somewhere like the DCR there were only 10,000 bank accounts opened in 2004 and that had increased to 400,000 in 2007.
“Banks are going into these countries and thet need IT and infrastructure. Telecoms and oil companies are other growth areas.”
Europlus Direct also has offices in Sydney, Australia, and South Africa. The company’s headquarters is in Saltaire and it employs 43 people across the group.
Mr Hart said: “From an international trade perspective there’s the potential of going into 60 or 70 countries around the world.”
Other targets include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Samoa and Fiji.
Mr Hart launched Europlus Direct in 2004 selling IBM services, initially for IBM France.
The company won a Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2008. It has annual turnover of £5.5m which Mr Hart expects to grow to £7.5m by the end of its current financial year.
Mr Hart said Yorkshire companies looking to expand overseas should ensure they employ staff with international trade experience.
“The advice I would give is that businesses should think global from the beginning,” he said. “And they should have an operation geared to the languages of the countries they’re operating in.”
