Business
商业报道
Consumer goods in Africa
非洲日用消费品市场
A continent goes shopping
非洲大陆掀起消费潮
Africa's fast-growing middle class has money to spend
迅速壮大的非洲中产阶级群体如今有钱消费了
AFRICAN consumers are underserved and overcharged, reckons Frank Braeken, Unilever's boss in Africa.
联合利华非洲区总裁Frank Braeken一直认为，非洲消费者所享受的服务水平过低且收费高昂。
Until recently, South Africans who craved shampoo made specially for African hair,
直到最近，除了购买从美国进口的昂贵的日用品，南非人几乎别无选择，而他们真正渴望的是适合非洲发质的洗发水，
or cosmetics for black skin, had little choice besides costly American imports.
或是适合黑色皮肤的化妆品。
Unilever spotted an opportunity:
在这里，联合利华发现了商机：

its Motions range of shampoos and conditioners is now a hit.
其运动系列的洗发水和护发素正受到追捧。
The Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods giant is making a big effort to tailor products for African customers:
联合利华这家英荷日用消费品巨头正在为生产适合非洲消费者的产品做出巨大的努力：
affordable food, water-thrifty washing powders and grooming products to fit local tastes.
实惠的食品，省水的洗衣粉以及符合当地审美观的美容产品。
It is also helping other businesses.
这也带动了其他行业的发展。
Last year Unilever opened the Motions Academy in Johannesburg.
去年，联合利华在约翰内斯堡开设了一家Motions学院，
Each year it will train up to 5,000 hairdressers who want to open their own salons.
每年最多能培养5000名美发师，他们希望毕业后能够开设自己的美发沙龙。
It is also a laboratory to test products and to try out new business models.
联合利华能够利用这家美发学院测试新产品，同时探索新的商业模式。
If it works, Unilever plans to replicate it elsewhere in Africa.
如果获得成功，该模式将在非洲其他地区获得推广。
Africa already has a $1.8 trillion economy and is forecast to have a population of 1.3 billion by 2020.
非洲经济体规模已达到1.8万亿美元，预计到2020年人口将会达到13亿。
Lion economies such as Ghana and Rwanda have grown faster than South Korea, Taiwan and other East Asian tiger economies in five of the past seven years, albeit from a low base.
在过去的七年中，像加纳、卢旺达这样的非洲狮经济体国家有五年发展速度超过了韩国、台湾等亚洲虎经济体国家。尽管起点较低，这种增长速度还是很可观的。
Unilever is not the only consumer-goods giant moving in.
联合利华不是唯一进军非洲市场的日用消费品巨头。
Africa accounts for only 3% of group sales of Nestle, the world's biggest food firm,
对于世界最大的食品企业的雀巢公司来说，非洲市场仅占其全球销售总额的3%，
but the Swiss behemoth is betting big there too:
但这家瑞士巨头也在非洲市场下了很大的赌注：
its African investments will total SFr1 billion in 2011 and 2012 against a total capital expenditure of SFr4.8 billion last year.
2001和2012年的总投资额达到10亿瑞士法郎，而去年雀巢在全球的总投资额也只有48亿瑞士法郎。
It has 29 factories on the continent and wants to build more. SABMiller, the world's second-largest beermaker, is planning to invest up to $2.5 billion in Africa over the next five years to build and revamp breweries.
雀巢公司在非洲拥有29家工厂，将来还会建得更多。全球第二大啤酒制造商—南非米勒正计划在未来的五年中向非洲投资25亿美元用以建造、改造啤酒厂。
In the year to March 2012, the continent was SABMiller's fastest-growing region, with volumes up by 13%.
到2012年三月为止，SABMiller在非洲地区销售量上升13%，非洲成为SABMille业务发展最快的地区。
Africa's attractions stem from its new middle class, loosely defined by the African Development Bank as anyone who spends between $2 and $20 a day in purchasing-power parity terms.
非洲市场之所以如此诱人，原因在于新生的中产阶级，非洲发展银行将其大致定义为日均消费额在2美元到20美元之间的群体。
The bank estimates that more than 34% of Africans fit this description, up from 27% in 2000.
该银行估计，非洲符合这一描述的人口比例由2007年的27%上升到如今的34%以上。
The challenge is to make stuff such consumers can afford, says Sullivan O'Carroll, the boss of Nestle South Africa.
南非雀巢总裁Sullivan O'Carroll表示，最大的挑战在于—要生产非洲中产阶级消费得起的产品。
Nestle offers wares called Popularly Positioned Products.
雀巢将这类产品称作大众消费品。
The name may not be snappy but the products are cheap and address common nutritional deficiencies.
也许这个名字不够大众化，但这类产品价格低廉，并且能够决绝普遍存在的营养不良问题。
For instance, Nespray, an instant milk powder, contains calcium, zinc and iron—all essential for children.
例如Nespray，这是一种速溶奶粉，含有钙、铁、锌这些儿童必需的矿物质。
It is sold in a 250g pouch that costs only a few rand.
这种奶粉的250克装仅售价几个兰特（南非货币单位）。
Designing products that appeal to locals is only part of the challenge.
设计符合当地需求的产品仅仅是挑战的一部分。
Even in South Africa, which has the best infrastructure, consumers may be eager but hard to reach.
即使在基础设施状况最好的南非，也存在市场需求旺盛但物流不便的问题。
Nestle delivers directly to spaza shops, that make up about 30% of the national retail market.
雀巢公司直接向spaza日常便利店供货。
Many of these are in remote areas and owners often cannot afford delivery vans.
许多spaza都位于偏远地区，店主无力购买厢式货车来运货。
Nestle has set up 18 distribution centres that deliver to spazas.
雀巢已经建立了18个配送中心来为spaza店家供货，
It charges them the same prices as bigger outlets.
收取的费用与那些较大的品牌直销购物中心是一样的。
Security is a problem too.
安全也是一大问题。
Just as Nestle's milk powder is fortified with iron, so its distribution centres are fortified with steel.
例如雀巢奶粉是强化铁配方的，于是其配送中心中备有钢铁。
The boss of the one in Soweto, has been tied up and held at gunpoint by burglars and threatened several times.
索伟托地区配送中心的老板曾被持枪的窃贼绑了起来，还被威胁过好几次。
Delivery vehicles that collect the spaza owners' payments, called cash vans, used to be adorned with branding. That was like sticking on a sign saying rob me.
以往，装载着spaza 店主付款的厢式货车一般都打着商标标识，它们被称作运钞货车，这简直是在招呼人们来抢我吧。
Today they are nondescript white cars.
如今，这些货车被没有任何标识的白色轿车所替代。
Soweto's spazas range from a hole in the wall on a dust road in a squatters' camp to a proper mini-market with a bright-green fade.
索伟托的spazas便利店规模大小不等，千差万别—有的位于非法聚居点，门前是灰尘扑扑的马路，所谓的便利店只是在墙上掏出一个洞；有的则坐落在合法的小型市场内，建筑表面刷着鲜亮的绿漆。
Many of the owners are canny in dealing with customers.
多数店主都很精明，招呼客人很有一套。
But for the supplier, working with them is tricky.
但对于供货商来说，他们却很难以对付。
Few have much working capital—5,000 rand is typical.
店主们几乎都没有太多的钱—大多数人的运营资本只有5000兰特左右。
Many have no ambition to grow.
许多店主并没有扩大营业规模的打算。
Some are hard to find.
还有的找不到人。
Nestle views microdistribution as a marketing expenditure:
雀巢公司把微观分销microdistribution 视作市场营销支出的一部分：
its staff can talk spaza owners into trying new products and check that its wares are prominently displayed.
公司职员可以说服spazas店主尝试售卖新产品，检查雀巢公司的产品是否摆放在显眼的位置。
The goal is to make what it calls microdistribution break even.
之所以这样做是为了保证微观分销不会赔本。
South Africa's roads and railways are much better than the rest of Africa's.
南非的公路和铁路设施比非洲其他地区要好得多。
Danone, a French food firm, delivers its yogurts and other delectables twice a week to 8,500 outlets in South Africa.
法国食品公司达能集团每周发两次货，把酸奶等美味食品运送到南非8500个品牌直销店中。
We cannot do this in Angola, Nigeria or Gambia, says Mario Reis, its local boss.
南非区总裁Mario Reis表示：我们无法再安哥拉、尼日利亚或冈比亚做到这一点。
He adds that in most of the rest of the continent, firms need to dig their own wells and generate their own electricity.
他补充道，在非洲其他大部分地区，公司需要自己挖井取水、自己发电。
In Dar es Salaam in Tanzania electricity is on only for two unpredictable hours a day.
在坦桑尼亚首都达累斯萨拉姆，每天只能供应两个小时电力，还是不定时的。
South Africa is a good base from which to penetrate the rest of the continent,
要想把商品推广到整个非洲大陆，南非是一个很好的起点，
but it is a mistake to assume that what works south of the Limpopo will also work north of it.
但是如果简单地认为把林波波河以南地区的经验应用到林波波省以北地区就能取得成功，那可就大错特错了。
More than two-fifths of all Africans still subsist on $1.25 a day.
2/5以上的非洲人每天的消费水平仅为1.25美元。
Brands matter less than price in most of Africa, says Simon Crutchley, the boss of AVI, a big South African consumer-goods firm with businesses across Africa.
在非洲大部分地区，价格比品牌更重要南非日用消费品企业AVI公司总裁Simon Crutchley 表示：
Many Africans are too poor to be brand aware, he says.
许多非洲人过于贫穷，没有什么品牌意识。
They have not grown up bombarded with advertising and barely recognise even famous brands.
他们不是在广告轰炸下成长起来的，甚至连著名的商标也认不出几个。
But this is changing quickly, thanks to television and mobile phones.
但多亏了电视和移动电话的普及，这些正在很快转变。
Corruption is a huge headache.
腐败是一个让人深感头痛的问题。
At the border of Tanzania and Kenya lorries are kept waiting for a week or more if the right palms are not greased.
在坦桑尼亚和肯尼亚边境，如果没有给关键位置的人贿赂，运货卡车可能要等一个星期或者更久才能跨越边境。
Companies shifting perishable goods risk losing the lot if they refuse to pay up.
如果不交这笔钱，运输易腐商品的公司就面临着损失全部货物的风险。
Ports are a problem, too.
港口也是一个问题。
Durban, in South Africa, is perhaps the most efficient:
南非东部的德班港也许是非洲效率最高的港口：
containers whizz through in a few days.
集装箱在几天之内就能通过。
In other ports, the process can drag on for weeks.
在其他港口这一过程要耗费几周的时间。
The longer the delay, the greater the pressure to pay bribes, moans a long-suffering company boss.
延误的时间越长，行贿的压力就越大一位长期忍受这些的老板抱怨道。
He adds that Dar es Salaam, the main port of Tanzania, could double its capacity by bringing its management up to Durban's standards.
他又补充道：要是达累斯萨拉姆的管理水平能够上升到和德班港一个档次，港口吞吐量就能翻一番
Gareth Ackerman, the boss of Pick 'n' Pay, a large supermarket chain based in Cape Town, says that his company's strategy is African creep—conquering new markets one at a time, moving steadily northward.
连锁超市Pay总裁表示其公司战略为African creep—每次只开设一家新店，稳扎稳打向北方扩展。
We need the supply chain, he explains.
我们需要这样的供应链。他解释道。
No longer the shopless continent
非洲不再是没有购物生活的大陆
Unilever's push into Africa is a return to familiar territory.
对联合利华来说，进军非洲市场实际上是重回他们熟悉的战场。
The firm made a fifth of its profits in Africa until the 1970s, when it shifted its attentions to Asia.
直到20世纪70之前，联合利华总利润的1/5的还来自非洲市场，从那之后，联合利华转攻亚洲市场。
Now it is back, employing 30,000 people on the continent and shifting soap, soup and so on worth 3 billion—out of total worldwide sales of 46 billion.
现在它又回来了，在非洲大陆上雇佣了3万名员工，销售日用品、食品等总价值约30亿欧元的商品—其全球销售总额为460亿欧元。
It is already Africa's biggest supplier of consumer goods, and aims to double sales in the next five years by beefing up investment and bringing in more of its brands.
联合利华已成为非洲最大的日用消费品供应商，并打算在未来五年内通过追加投资、引入更多品牌等措施，将非洲地区的销售总额翻一番。
In spite of the risks, businessfolk are upbeat.
尽管有风险，这些企业还是非常乐观的。
A couple of decades ago, most African governments made life very hard for business.
几十年前，大多数非洲政府对商业管束的很严。
Now policies are more market-friendly, albeit with frequent relapses:
如今的政策更有利于市场运行，不过时有反复：
Zambia, for example, recently banned the use of American dollars in local transactions—a needless extra hassle for firms operating there.
例如赞比亚最近禁止在国内交易中使用美元——这为在当地有业务的国际企业增添了许多不必要的麻烦。
Still, the corridor chatter at sub-Saharan conferences these days is cheerful.
不过，这几天就撒哈拉沙漠以南走廊地带经济状况召开的会议还是鼓舞人心的。
Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, says that cynicism about Africa has turned to optimism.
世界经济论坛的创建者Klaus Schwab认为，以往人们对非洲的嘲笑态度已被一种乐观的情绪所替代。
We have a sense that things are really getting better, says Mr Braeken.
Mr Braeken 则表示我们感觉到，非洲确实在朝着好的方向发展。
Africa is not only about mining and oil any more.
非洲不再只有石油和矿产。
But, he says, the continent still needs to overcome what George Bush, in another context, called the soft bigotry of low expectations.
但Mr Braeken还表示，非洲必须克服乔治.布什所谓的软偏见导致的低要求问题。