Page 24 - Best of 2016 English

Jitendra Shah contacted Düsseldorf for the rst time in 1982 – via telex. Today he is director of the Corru- gated Group
It all started in October 1982 with an adver- tisement in the “Metal Bulletin” trade journal in which today’s Salzgitter Mannesmann International Düsseldorf GmbH (SMID)
o ered its services. Jitendra Shah in Mombasa (Kenya) also read the notice. At that time, he was already working for the Corrugated Group owned by the Patel family. e company manufactured commodities from steel. “We conducted the price negotiations for the rst 500 t of steel via telex,” remembers Shah, who is responsible today as the director of the company that has grown to more than 3,200 employees and who can easily check to see exactly what he ordered back then: Wire rods, 5.5 and 6.5 mm thick.
“Trust is an important requirement for business in Africa.”
Today the Corrugated Group is one of SMID’s most important customers in Africa. Albrecht e- obald, the company o cer with responsibility for this continent, reports, “In 2015 we delivered some 120,000 tonnes of steel here.” Primarily hot-rolled strip, wire rod and billets that the company uses
to manufacture roofs, nails, wire mesh, reinforc- ing steel and tubes. Once a quarter, eobald or
Patricia Schmied, who has been his assistant for six years, visits Mombasa, where they have long been welcomed as friends. “Periodic contact is important,” says Patricia Schmied. “Trust counts. In Africa, this is the most important requirement for a long-term partnership.”
e demand in Mombasa is predominantly for simple steel grades that the Düsseldorf trading company procures for the Corrugated Group from all over the world, currently China, India, Japan and South Africa. e big added value for the customer here consists less in product consultation and more in accompanying services in nancing, logistics and documentation that are currently pro- vided by 20 employees in the Africa Department. As eobald explains, “And time and time again, this is a Sisyphean task, true to the motto of “100 papers for every coil.””
For example, there are constant changes in customs conditions around the world, and these changes have their dangers. “Our colleagues must be aware of these changes,” says eobald. “ ey must continue to educate themselves and keep up-to-date.” Naturally SMID charges a fee for these services, but this fee is much less than what the customer would have to pay if it had to reserve personnel for these extensive tasks.
Business is booming: A look into the Corrugated Group’s open-plan o ce
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