South Africa at 20: Opportunities for New England Business

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Oct 24, 2014, 03:30 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The extraordinary opportunities South Africa and its fast-growing region offer New England businesses and investors will be explored at a seminar sponsored by the state of Massachusetts and South Africa's New York Consulate General at the Boston Federal Reserve Bank on Monday, October 27.

South Africa, whose democracy turned 20 this year, is Africa's most advanced and diversifed economy and a springboard into the rest of the continent. It is actively seeking private sector partners from the US as it forges ahead with an $80 billion program to upgrade its energy, transport and communications infrastructure.

The seminar will shed practical light on what South Africa's transformative National Development Plan and the broader African growth story which it complements mean for Boston-area companies and investors.

Speakers will include South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool and New York Consul General George Monyemangene, and Mr. Greg Bialecki, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Offering private sector perspectives will be Mr Hal Hess, SVP for international operations at Boston-headquartered American Tower whose South African subsidiary is the country's largest independent owner of shared wireless infrastructure; Mr Nyagaka Ongeri, Managing Director, Barclays Capital; and Mr Nolan Menachemson, head of global equity sales at Standard Securities, part of South Africa's Standard Bank Group.

They will be joined by South African Tourism's President for North America, Ms. Sthu Zungu; Mr Todd Neuman, South African Airways vice president for sales and marketing; and Mr Simon Barber, US Country Manager for Brand South Africa.

Open to the media, the seminar will look at what South Africa has achieved in the 20 years since the late President Nelson Mandela steered the country to its first democratic election and what it is doing to deal with the challenges of poverty, unemploment and inequality that remain.

Speakers can also be expected to address the issue of Ebola, its impact on the region and the realistic chances of the virus being imported into or from South Africa and its neighbours.

WHERE: Boston Federal Reserve Bank, 500 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA 02210

WHEN: Registration: 10:00 am. Program: 10:30 am - 2:00 pm

MEDIA CONTACT: Ms Lebogang Mokwena, Consulate General of South Africa, [email protected], 917 345 0368

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SOURCE Brand South Africa US