CAPE TOWN - ASK Cape Town premier Ebrahim Rasool how his city can entice businessmen, and he readily cites a list of plus points.

It is cosmopolitan, has 1.6million tourists a year feeding its hospitality industry and is a choice location for Bollywood and Hollywood film-makers.

It has a burgeoning call centre industry that specialises in higher-end problem-solving services.

And it is a major port city linking India and Brazil to the rest of Africa.

'We don't have oil in Cape Town, but the west coast of Africa has rich reserves and this is the service port that is emerging for that entire industry,' said Mr Rasool, who governs South Africa's Western Cape province.

'There is money to be made in Africa and the gateway to Africa is Cape Town and South Africa.'

This is hardly the picture of an African city that some Singapore businessmen have.

Mr Terence Seow, IE Singapore's assistant director of international operations, says Singapore companies believe sub-Saharan Africa does not have 'a safe environment and stable infrastructure conducive to businesses'.

They are also more focused on South Asia and the Middle East, he said, even though the sub-Saharan region has boomed in the past few years with rising commodity prices and new energy resources.

Some businessmen have caught on to this new growth. A delegation of over 20 Singapore businessmen have been meeting South African counterparts and officials. They are accompanying President S R Nathan on his first state visit to Africa and include officials from government-linked companies like SembCorp Industries, as well as smaller companies such as wireless manufacturer Smartbridges.

Singapore businessmen based here say the lack of security is a concern, but they can tolerate it as they look to tap the vast opportunities.

One of them is used-car exporter Dinesh Kumar, 38, who moved to Johannesburg a month ago and witnessed a robbery at a mall he visited.

Shivering and shaken, he called fellow Singaporeans in the city afterwards, only to be told, tongue-in-cheek: 'Welcome to South Africa.'

But he is staying put. 'I've got a baseball bat in my home and I just bought an alarm system for my apartment. My wife is coming next month.'

What Singaporean businessmen here have to do is adapt to the different conditions.

This could involve meeting requirements for a proportion of non-whites to be hired in order to have a better chance of clinching government contacts. Or accepting that employees may not be as prompt and efficient as back home.

Consumer-electronics trader Dhanesh Tewani, 44, who has been in South Africa for eight years, has had to re-learn his business.

South Africans avoid fly-by-night suppliers who quote low prices but do not stay around to provide after-sales service.

'Coming from an Asian background, we thought price was a primary factor. But for South Africans, everything is about relationships, and these take a long time to build,' he said.

Premier Rasool is keen to help them and to make Cape Town the choice place for foreign businessmen to make their soft landing into Africa. This includes reducing red tape.

'Four years ago, planning approval would have taken two years. Today, it takes six to nine months,' he said.

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