What are South Africa’s competitive advantages?

South Africa is still one of Africa’s most stable markets and diversified economies. It represents a lot of potential and shows what the rest of Africa can be, with a mature economy, great infrastructure, and a drive to ensure goals are met. For a lot of international corporations and especially us, as a law firm, it is very important to be somewhere you have not only policymakers but also deal makers, where you can talk with banks, hedge funds, investment bankers, and especially energy brokers.

Do you see your footprint continuing to grow throughout the continent?

For us South Africa is as much a destination as it is a gateway. It is easy to bring in quality lawyers, advisors, government officials and businesses into South Africa for training, to discuss deals, or discuss contracts.

As a pan-African and pro-African company, we want to negotiate our deals here in Africa. It’s common in West Africa to discuss a deal at a fancy hotel in London or New York, but South Africa provides you with the same infrastructure you would find in the West. If business is done here, it keeps money circulating around the continent, and can help address some of Africa’s issues such as poverty and skilled-labour migration as it creates a positive environment.

What does South Africa need to do to improve skills in the country and make sure that future is available for future generations?

Education, education, education. The fight for education is going to be the next anti-Apartheid struggle and the next human rights struggle. We should ingrain and mandate the importance of education into the constitution and government spending. We need an educated population to smooth the process of innovation, as education enables innovation.

One of Africa’s greatest untapped resources is women, and we are not going to meet the challenges of South Africa and Africa if we do not empower women. Money should be going into educating people and preparing them to create a future for themselves. Why can’t the next Steve Jobs come out of Soweto?

Your firm does a lot of work with energy companies and keeping the money and companies on the continent. What has the Centurion Group done to empower Africa in this sense?

One of the key things Centurion Group does is advise governments on energy policy and energy contracting. We advise foreign companies on investing in Africa with regards to structuring contracts, risk analysis, making sure their investments are protected and advising them on the nuances of the African energy industry.

Most conflicts in Africa are over natural resources, but if you ensure that these resources are properly managed then extraction industries can be used to benefit the African population.

I am proud to say our firm has been given many opportunities to participate in growing the African energy sector. We must, however, achieve a balance between attracting direct foreign investment into the country and empowering people on the continent.

What kind of footprint do you want Centurion Group to leave on the African continent?

We would like to leave Africa better than what it was before. It sounds like a cliché but I believe in Gandhi’s words´: “Be the change you would like to see in the world.”

Centurion Group must spend time and our intellectual capital doing the right things by Africa.

In somewhere like South Sudan, where there is conflict and famine, investment could create economic empowerment and change people’s lives. For myself and Centurion Group this is at the core of what we do. We are making strides into educating the South African populace, as people need to be trained to manage their resources.

We at Centurion Group think about the best solutions to shape Africa’s energy. We can become a voice and will not wait for somebody else to tell us how to do it because the future is ours and it is up to us in how we determine it.

What does South Africa need to do to improve skills in the country and make sure that future is available for future generations?

Education, education, education. The fight for education is going to be the next anti-Apartheid struggle and the next human rights struggle. We should ingrain and mandate the importance of education into the constitution and government spending. We need an educated population to smooth the process of innovation, as education enables innovation.

One of Africa’s greatest untapped resources is women, and we are not going to meet the challenges of South Africa and Africa if we do not empower women. Money should be going into educating people and preparing them to create a future for themselves. Why can’t the next Steve Jobs come out of Soweto?

Your firm does a lot of work with energy companies and keeping the money and companies on the continent. What has the Centurion Group done to empower Africa in this sense?

One of the key things Centurion Group does is advise governments on energy policy and energy contracting. We advise foreign companies on investing in Africa with regards to structuring contracts, risk analysis, making sure their investments are protected and advising them on the nuances of the African energy industry.

Most conflicts in Africa are over natural resources, but if you ensure that these resources are properly managed then extraction industries can be used to benefit the African population.

I am proud to say our firm has been given many opportunities to participate in growing the African energy sector. We must, however, achieve a balance between attracting direct foreign investment into the country and empowering people on the continent.

What kind of footprint do you want Centurion Group to leave on the African continent?

We would like to leave Africa better than what it was before. It sounds like a cliché but I believe in Gandhi’s words´: “Be the change you would like to see in the world.”

Centurion Group must spend time and our intellectual capital doing the right things by Africa.

In somewhere like South Sudan, where there is conflict and famine, investment could create economic empowerment and change people’s lives. For myself and Centurion Group this is at the core of what we do. We are making strides into educating the South African populace, as people need to be trained to manage their resources.

We at Centurion Group think about the best solutions to shape Africa’s energy. We can become a voice and will not wait for somebody else to tell us how to do it because the future is ours and it is up to us in how we determine it.