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Small and medium-sized businesses in Africa discussed in St. Petersburg On November 21, within the framework of the Economic Congress of the VI International Municipal Forum of the BRICS countries in St. Petersburg, a round table "Small and medium-sized businesses: successful experience of Russian-African cooperation and acceleration barriers" was held. It was organized by the African-Russian Energy Association (AREA), the All-Russian Public Organization "Investment Russia" and the Fund for the Development of Municipal Territories. According to Yulia Berg, director of the International Business Acceleration Center (IBAC), moderator of the round table, just 10-15 years ago, small business in Africa looked more like an adventure, which cannot be said now. "Over the past few years, a large number of platforms have been opened, both for discussion and for active contacts at the level of government ministries and departments. They open up new opportunities and support measures specifically for representatives of small and medium–sized businesses," Berg said. She noted that now more and more Russian citizens are coming to Africa who want to start their own business or invest in sustainable projects. In this context, the expert singled out South Africa. Due to its long participation in the BRICS, the country offers additional support measures and platforms for active business communication, development of relations and creation of communities. Despite the optimistic forecasts, there are many problems when working with African businesses. They were voiced by the President of the All-Russian public organization "Investment Russia" Stanislav Aranovich. Among these are public payments, logistics, climate and business features. "If large Russian companies on the African continent are working relatively successfully, small and medium-sized businesses have a rather difficult time." At the same time, the representative of Investment Russia, Alexander Mazur, urged entrepreneurs not to be afraid of risks and to pave the way first. "You will need to take risks somewhere, you should not be afraid of this. For our part, we need to take risks somewhere, even lose the first delivery somewhere. This is normal, you can't hope that everything will work out right away. But in order for everything to work out exactly, we need to work systematically and apply new approaches," he stressed. In turn, Igor Evert, Chairman of the Permanent Commission for the Study of the African continent of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, insisted that business in Africa is a long-term project. "This is a program for the future. If we want to work with businessmen from Africa, we need to work with children," the expert said. #Africa#RussiaAfrica#business