VOA常速英语2013--非洲吸引科技公司安家落户

Africa Attracting Technology Firms 非洲吸引科技公司安家落户

Africa is not only a growing market for hi-tech products, but may soon be a base for a lot more hi-tech companies. The continent is expected to see growing competition to meet the needs of its rising young and middle class populations.

非洲不仅是高科技产品增长的市场,而且可能很快成为诸多高新技术企业的基地。这片大陆有望看到激烈的竞争,以满足其日益增长的年轻群体及中产阶级的需要。

DHL calls itself the “logistics company for the world,” providing transportation via rail, road, sea and air. And Company officials see Africa as a place where its business can boom. For that to happen, though, more international companies will need to invest in the continent and base their operations there.

自诩为“世界的物流公司”的DHL提供通过铁路、公路、海路及空中的运输。而公司官员将非洲视为自家业务会蓬勃发展的地方。为了实现这一点,更多的国际公司需要在这片大陆上投资并且建立经营基地。

DHL’s Sumesh Rahavendra sees that happening. That’s one of the findings from a recent global technological 1 conference sponsored by his company.

DHL的萨穆埃尔·拉万德拉已经看到这种情况的发生。这是由他的公司近期支持的一次全球技术会议的结果。

“There’s quite a bit of evidence to that in terms of global companies starting to set up base in Africa. If you look at the likes of SAP or IBM or Hisense, which is the Chinese company, all of them are setting base in Africa and looking at how specifically they can cater 2 to the Africa market while being in Africa, as against getting to the African market while being in Europe or the Middle East.”

“就全球公司开始在非洲设立基地而言里面有相当多的原因。如果你看看像是SAP或IBM或中国海信等公司都是在非洲设立基地而且期望在非洲的时候如何具体满足非洲市场, 而在欧洲或中东时涉足非洲市场。”

Rahavendra is the company’s head of marketing 3 for sub-Saharan Africa.

拉万德拉是公司撒哈拉以南的非洲地区的市场营销主管。

“Specifically talking about emerging markets, you know, while Asia Pacific is still a fairly robust 4 and stable growing electronics segment, we believe that there is a lot of potential in Africa. Africa could really be the next frontier for technology growth,” he said.

“专门谈论新兴市场,你知道,尽管亚太地区电子板块市场仍然相当强健而且稳定增长,我们相信在非洲有很多的潜能。非洲有可能真的是下一个技术增长的前沿。”他说道。

For technology companies to base operations in Africa is simply a matter of good logistics.

在非洲设立基地的科技公司所面临的的问题只是一个简单的好物流。

“As an example,” he said, “if you were a technology giant that had a distribution hub in the Middle East – and if you wanted to ship into African countries – you’d have to ship probably from the Middle East all the way down to South Africa and then consolidate 5 and distribute from South Africa into the various African countries. That’s just one example, but that’s just how your cost of doing business increases if you don’t already have an existing base in Africa.”

“举例而言,”他说道,“如果你是一家科技巨头, 在中东有分销中心，而如果你想船运到非洲国家，你的船必须从中东直下到达南非,然后整合后从南非分发到不同的非洲国家。这只是一个例子,但表明你的经营成本如何增加,如果你在非洲没有一个现有基地的话。”

A company has to be in the market, he said, to understand what the customer wants and needs.

他表示一家公司要占据市场就必须了解客户所想所需。

“I travel a fair bit around Africa and so does the rest of our team and you can see the technology boom literally 6 across every country in Africa. As an example, people who never had access to a desktop 7 PC are now playing around with tablets – are now playing around with smart phones. And it just goes to show the level and speed of adoption 8 has been significant as more middle class and upper middle class consumers in Africa get access to technology.”

“我踏足非洲各处而我们团队的其他成员也是如此,所以你会看到在非洲字面每一个国家意义上的科技繁荣。举例来说，那些从来没有涉足桌面PC的人现在玩着平板电脑—现在玩转智能手机。而这只是证明随着越来越多的中产阶级和上层中产阶级消费者非洲享用技术采用显著的水平和速度。”

Rahavendra described the continent’s one billion people as virtually an untapped market for many products.

拉万德拉称这片大陆的十亿人对许多产品而言几乎是尚未开发的市场。

“The purchasing power and the income disparity [are] quite different to that of the Asian countries, but it still represents a huge population simply because a majority of people are young people. And with a young population that’s going to adopt technology and commodities in the future, it represents a significant potential for any international company coming to Africa,” he said.

“购买力和收入差距和亚洲国家截然不同,但仅仅是因为多数人是年轻人仍然代表巨大的人口。而年轻人群将在未来接纳技术和商品,对任何来到非洲的国际公司而言这代表了重要的潜在力,”他说道。

A recent report entitled The Rise and Rise of Africa’s Middle Class says more than 60 percent of the continent’s population is under 25 years old. The report says this means there is a “guaranteed customer base for years to come.” 

最近的一份报告《冉冉上升的非洲中产阶级》显示非洲总人口超过60%的人群是25岁。报告表示这意味着有一个有保证的客户群终于到来。

And what’s good for companies, Rahavendra said, is good for DHL.

而这有利于各个公司, 拉万德拉表示也有利于DHL。

“As more and more companies are coming into Africa and setting up their distribution hubs here -- setting up plants to manufacture here – that represents a business opportunity for us to move more products across Africa. Look, DHL has been in Africa for over 35 years and we’re present in every single country across Africa, which means to a large extent really nobody knows Africa better than we do. And when companies come here they are going to look at who are the established players, who can help me with logistics,” he said.

“随着越来越多的公司进入非洲并在这里建立他们的分配中心—建立制造工厂—这代表我们的商机，我们将会在非洲运送更多的产品。看,DHL已经在非洲超过35年,而且我们现在为每一个在非洲的国家服务,这意味着很大程度上在非洲我们的声誉响当当。而当公司来这里他们要看看谁是这里已经有的角色,谁能帮我做物流,”他说道。

Rahavendra said there is potential in every African country for growth, but some are more ready than others.

拉万德拉表示在每一个非洲国家的经济都有潜在的增长,但一些比其他更有准备。

“One of the reasons why it’s hard to do business in African countries is just infrastructure 9 and logistics. Because the cost of actually getting your product to its final place inflates 10 it significantly because there are so much infrastructural 11 challenges that isn’t getting you there. Second example is there are a fair bit of issues with political climate in some African countries. That needs to be made more conducive 12 for business. The good news is signs all indicate towards a positive story going forward next five to ten years.”

“其中一个原因是仅仅是基础设施和物流导致在非洲国家很难开展业务。因为实际上你的产品到最终目的地的成本会大大膨胀,因为这么多基础的挑战,让你艰难开始。第二个例子是一些非洲国家的政治气候具有相当大的问题。需要更有利于开展业务。好消息是未来五到十年的迹象是朝着一个积极的方向发展。”

DHL saID Africa is now the world’s second largest mobile technology market by connections after Asia, but the fastest growing mobile market in the world.

DHL表示非洲现在是继亚洲后连接世界的第二大移动技术市场,而且是增长最快的世界移动市场。