Schou Company opening the gateway to Africa

Schou Company A/S will increase its turnover outside of Scandinavia. As part of this strategy the wholesale company has acquired the majority of shares in a smaller Danish company that specialises in trade with South Africa, which CEO Gotfred Christiansen calls “the gateway to Africa.”

As it stands today, turnover at Schou Company, Scandinavia’s largest wholesale company for non-food products, is generated mainly from sales of its large range of garden furniture, kitchen equipment and DIY products in Scandinavia. The company’s ambition is to ensure that a large part of future growth in turnover shall be generated in sales in other markets and the wholesale company is now establishing a bridgehead to the African continent in South Africa.

“South Africa is the gateway to the rest of Africa. The country has the strongest retail chains and from there, the chains are spreading north,” explained Schou Company CEO, Gotfred Christiansen.

The first step into the African market, a new market for Schou Company, was becoming the majority shareholder of New CapeDenmark. New CapeDenmark is already active in South Africa and is operated by Jan Graabæk, who also previously lived in the country, and he shall pave the way for the wholesale of Schou Company products in South Africa.

“South Africa is a very well-developed market with retail that is of a western standard. Therefore, it makes sense that we focus our ambition on increasing Schou Company turnover outside of Europe there. Moreover, the collaboration with Jan Graabæk and New CapeDenmark is built on an old business relation that we are now reviving,” said Gotfred Christiansen.