In a bold but smart move to stay ahead of competitors, Wal-Mart, the world's bigger department store chain, is seeking to buy Massmart - a major retailer with 263 stores in South Africa and 25 stores in other sub-Saharan African countries including Mozambique, Swaziland and Namibia. Massmart owns chain stores such as Game and Macro.
Seeking to capitalize on Africa's economic growth, Wal-Mart has reportedly made an offer of $4.1 billion to buy 51 percent of the company, which will remain listed on the country’s stock exchange. If successful, Wal-Mart would become the first major international retailer to enter the South Africa market.
As the U.S. struggles to recover from a down economy. Wal-Mart is just one of the many major corporations that are expanding globally. Another one is Yum Brands (the company who owns Pizza Hut and KFC), who has recently opened thousands of franchises in countries like China, Korea, Japan and the Philippines.
I find it amazing that the world is still full of new markets for business owners to seize. Even for small businesses, there are tons of opportunities to take advantage of. I recently read on AtlantaPost.com about an African American woman who owns a very successful soulfood restaurant in China. And I recall an article last year in Black Enterprise magazine, that profiled two African American entrepreneurs - one who had a successful pharmaceutical company in South Africa, and the other who had a haircare company there.
With 350 million people in the United States, it's important to know that Americans only make up 5% of the world's population. That means that 95% of the world's consumers live in other countries.
Going global makes dollars and sense.
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