eBusiness Weekly
Tinashe Makichi
South Africa power cable manufacturer, M-TEC Taihan Electric Wire, is looking to set up a manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe as part of broader plans to expand outside South Africa.
M-TEC is a Black Economic Empowered Company, which has South African shareholders, CIH Holdings and South Korean shareholders Taihan Electric Cable (Private Limited. It is one of the pioneers of power cable manufacturing in South Africa supplying big companies like Eskom, Transnet and other telecommunications companies.
The company produces power cable products, fire optic cables, copper cables and aluminium cable products.
According to the company, Zimbabwe provides the right market for these products considering infrastructure development projects being undertaken.
M-TEC chief executive Jae Man Cho, told Business Weekly that plans to set up shop in Zimbabwe are part of a bigger objective of expanding its footprint into sub-Saharan Africa.
“At the moment we have seen opportunities in supplying power cables to power companies in Zimbabwe and fibre optic cables to telecommunication companies.
“That is what we want to do in the short term but in the medium term we are then going to consider setting up operations here,” said Cho.
He said the company is also looking at expanding into Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique. The firm’s target is to become the second largest cable producer in the region by 2020.
The progression of M-TEC technology in copper and aluminium led to the production of PVC cables in 1970. There was a ready market for the products and today the company produces PVC, XLPE and ABC cables in an extensive range of sizes and voltages.
The firm also provides an entirely new form of telecommunication line that is made up of a ground for aerial power lines, which contain optical fibres.
A delegation of seven South Korean companies based in South Africa, were in the country recently scouting for investment opportunities. Their visit to the country was facilitated by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Zimbabwe Investment Authority.
Among the big companies scouting for investments are, Hyundai Corporation, M-Tech, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, Samsung among others.
