Water companies are investing in AfricaTwo of Denmark’s top companies have made major commitments to emerging markets, and Africa in particular.

By John Young

Two of the most sophisticated companies in the water technology sector, pump manufac-turer Grundfos and meter specialists Kam-

strup, are committed to ramping up investment in Africa over the next few years.

Senior executives at both of these Danish companies spoke to Frontier about what it takes to establish a presence on the continent — and about their plans to continue to grow in one of the fastest growing regions on the planet.

“It matters to be local,” says Kamstrup’s Hans Peter Kyk. He is responsible for sales of electricity meters and notes that the opening of an office in Johan-nesburg has markedly helped the company’s push into Africa.

“If you want to get into new markets, you have got to be there!” Kyk points to staff growth of about 80 people per year for the last three years, almost all of it outside of Denmark.

Niels Fielsøe Petersen of Grundfos, the company that makes about 16 million pumps every year in manufacturing sites all over the world, similarly draws on employee numbers to illustrate the growth of Grundfos in new areas of business.

“Our biggest growth is in emerging markets and this is reflected in the number of new staff that we have been hiring overseas,” says Petersen. About 4 500 of the pump company’s 18 000 employees are employed in Denmark.

INSIDE TRACK

The training facility of Grundfos at the company headquarters in Bjerringbo, the Poul Due Jensen Academy.

INSIDE TRACK

Citing 25% growth in South Africa, Petersen points out that the company’s Bedfordview office in Johan-nesburg already has a staff of 110.

“In Kenya, we recently doubled production and we now have an office in Accra, Ghana, with 17 people. That is set for growth as well.”

Solar pump applications are a certain area of growth, especially in East Africa, according to Petersen.

Petersen, whose is the regional director of busi-ness for all emerging markets, says of the Grundfos commitment to Africa, “We are there now, we are going to be there tomorrow, and we are going to be investing heavily.”

Several factors in South Africa have persuaded Kam-strup that the country has good investment potential for its smart water and electricity meters. Says Kyk, “There have been increasing prices in energy, and huge losses are being experienced in the system. Also, having looked at the existing meters in the country, we think we can help.”

Kamstrup Country Manager Petrus van Heerden says that the company is investigating collabora-tions or joint ventures with several South African entities. This is in response to a call by the Danish government and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-SA) to test Danish technology in the Southern African region. Amounts of up to R400 000 will be available for projects that show innovation and solve water problems.

Kamstrup technology is being used on a meter refit of the Sandton City shopping complex. Other recent projects have been rolled out in Kenya and Ghana, where pre-paid meters have been installed.

Grundfos and Kamstrup are leaders in technolo-gy and both companies are very focussed on re-search and development (R&D). Fully a quarter of Kamstrup’s staff complement work on R&D while Grundfos in 2012 spent $100-million in that area.

Grundfos’s training academy, named for the compa-ny founder, Poul Due Jansen, is an impressive facility on the site of the group headquarters in the town of Bjerringbo in Jutland.