SAFRI – the Southern Africa Initiative of German Business – was created by Germany’s leading three business organisations in May 1996 at the instigation of Federal German Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl:

The SAFRI Executive Committee establishes SAFRI’s goals. It is made up of leading representatives from German business and chaired by Professor Jürgen E. Schrempp, former Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler.

SAFRI’s main objective is to draw the attention of German business and industry to a highly promising region – the nations of the Southern African countries that have come together under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). SAFRI serves as the central interface between the private business sectors in both Germany and the SADC region and since its foundation has been responsible for numerous projects and activities.

SAFRI informs German business and industry about investment and trading opportunities within the SADC region, arranges for contacts between German and African entrepreneurs, and engages in public relations to improve the image of Africa in the German media, as well as raise the profile of Germany in Southern Africa. In so doing SAFRI is making a valuable contribution towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Despite ongoing structural problems in the region and the as yet incomplete political and economic integration, SAFRI recognises the enormous potential of these economies and remains convinced of the tremendous opportunities offered by transnational infrastructure projects – particularly for German business. One of SAFRI’s most pressing goals is to bring about continued improvements in the framework conditions for investors.

The Office of the SAFRI Chairman in Stuttgart, develops activities on behalf of the Chairman and remains in close contact with the three supporting organisations, the Southern African German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Johannesburg) and with those companies represented on the Executive Committee. Through the network of supporting organisations and the Executive Committee, SAFRI is able to draw on

Other focal activities of SAFRI are to disseminate information, develop a feeling of goodwill and create contacts between business partners and organisations such as the German Investment and Development Company (DEG), the German Technical Agency (GTZ) and the German Bank for Reconstruction and Development (KfW). Such activities make use of the services of top German business leaders to head delegations and deliver conference addresses.

These activities in Germany have gone a considerable way towards providing many different companies with a more differentiated and positive image of the countries of Southern Africa, highlighting particularly promising business sectors and regions and establishing contacts between German entrepreneurs and their Southern African counterparts.