FIFA World Cup helps businesses network
The FIFA World Cup in South Africa will remain the stage used to broaden and deepen Australia’s engagement with Africa on a business level, with the popular Business Club Australia (BCA) in Cape Town during the tournament.
Led by Austrade, and endorsed by Football Federation Australia (FFA) as Australia’s business program during the tournament, BCA will host several industry networking events for Australian and South African businesses.
“Trade in services between Australia and sub-Saharan Africa are also significant and growing, especially in mining and infrastructure and business services.” he said. “Business opportunities in the education, mining and agribusiness sectors are the focus of business networking activities throughout BCA South Africa.”
The program will emphasise Australia’s expertise in all aspects of largescale event management and encourage businesses to get involved in numerous aspects of a major sporting event, including producing the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, the creation of exciting ‘live precincts’ for the tournament, and arranging transport logistics.
Austrade’s senior trade commissioner for sub-Saharan Africa Greg Hull believes there are great benefits involved for Australian businesses, saying trade in goods between Australia and Africa is valued at close to $5 billion and has had more than six percent growth annually over the last decade.
Supporters of BCA include SBS Sport’s editorial chief, Les Murray AM and former Socceroo and SBS’s chief football analyst, Craig Foster. “There is no questioning the value of business connections made through events like this, football is a game that brings people together and that doesn’t stop when the whistle blows. The BCA program recognises that and has a proven track record,” said Murray.
FFA CEO, Ben Buckley urged Australian business people in South Africa to get involved. “BCA provides a platform for Australian businesses to build new or strengthen existing relationships with South African companies, and what better backdrop to do it than the world tournament of a truly global game,” he said.
BCA will also host the first rollout of Australia Unlimited, the country’s new brand to position Australia as a great business partner and global citizen.
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