Ivan DE SOUSA
Managing Partner
MENSHEN

Local expertise and international standards

Angola

Ivan De Sousa, managing partner of Menshen, talks to The Energy Year about the role the company plays in the Angolan digital services landscape, its strategy for expanding its client portfolio and the main growth opportunities and barriers for local IT companies. Menshen specialises in licensing and technical services and has a strategic partnership with First Technology, South Africa’s largest private IT group.

What role does Menshen play in the Angolan digital services landscape?
Over the past two decades, I believe Menshen has established itself as a reference in Angola’s IT sector. Proudly maintaining Angola’s longest active Microsoft Certified Partnership, with 10 Microsoft Partner of the Year awards, and with hundreds of customers in every sector, from oil and gas, to financial services and government, I am proud to say that Menshen has become a recognisable and respected player in the Angolan digital services landscape.
We recently expanded and strengthened our strategic partnership with First Technology Group, South Africa’s largest private IT group, allowing us to leverage their 40-year legacy and vast resources. This enhances our offerings and represents our commitment to bringing innovative and robust IT solutions to the market. Our journey, underscored by integrity and excellence, is geared towards driving Angola’s digital transformation, ensuring our clients receive top-tier IT services.

What is your strategy for expanding Menshen’s client portfolio?
Currently, our client portfolio is heavily represented by the banking sector, where we’ve established strong relationships with almost all Angolan banks over the past 20 years, providing services and software licensing.
While we’ve also engaged with the oil and gas sector, and our inaugural contract was in fact with BP, previously our expansion in this sector was limited due to a lack of qualified technical resources. Despite this, we had several contracts with companies such as BP and Cobalt, and we successfully executed major projects for other operators and service providers such as Angola LNG.
We are particularly proud of being granted the “Outstanding Performance Award” for our participation in the Angola LNG IT/IM Infrastructure Project.
Our recent strategic shift aims to overcome past limitations. With enhanced access to technical resources through our partnership with First Technology Group, we’re poised to diversify and deepen our engagement in the oil and gas sector. Our 20 years of industry experience, combined with a robust partner, positions us well to meet the outsourcing needs of these companies, who are increasingly seeking high-quality Angolan solutions.
We’re now equipped to offer a broader range of services, especially in managed services that align with corporate business needs. Our track record includes managing Cobalt’s service desk and providing manpower to BP’s service desk. Leveraging these experiences and our expanded pool of technical capabilities, we aim to target oil and gas companies seeking outsourcing solutions in areas such as service desk, network management, security, backup, disaster recovery and server management.

What have been the main growth opportunities for the company?
In 2023, a pivotal growth opportunity for Menshen materialised through the aforementioned expansion of our partnership with First Technology Group. Initially focusing on software licensing over the past three years, this partnership has now evolved to include joint technical services offerings.
As South Africa’s largest private IT group, they offer an invaluable breadth of experience with over 40 years in the industry. Their team, which comprises more than 2,000 employees, of which 500 are Microsoft-certified technicians, has a solid services and project history, evidenced by an annual turnover of USD 300 million, making them an exceptional ally.
Significantly, First Technology Group’s presence extends beyond South Africa, with operations in the United States, England and Kenya. This global footprint enables us to blend local Angolan expertise with worldwide innovation and perspectives.
This strategic enhancement of our relationship was a natural and necessary progression for Menshen. It has opened doors to exponential growth in our resources and service offerings. Our collaboration now leverages global insights and practices, which significantly boosts our capacity to deliver diverse and complex IT solutions. Through this powerful alliance, we are better equipped to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of our clients, blending local understanding with international standards of excellence.

What do you think are the main barriers preventing the domestic IT sector from growing more?
From our perspective, the most significant obstacles hindering further growth in the IT sector are a lack of technical resources and constraints in accessing foreign currency, compounded by the devaluation of the kwanza.
Addressing the first issue, the challenge isn’t the absence of human capital in Angola. At Menshen and among our customers, we’ve encountered numerous extremely talented Angolan IT professionals. The problem is that there just aren’t enough with the necessary training and experience to address the needs.
Furthermore, the existing professionals typically possess valid vendor certifications and training that is recognised globally, thus making them highly desirable hires, not only in Angola but globally. This creates a competitive environment where retaining these professionals becomes difficult, not just due to local competition but also because many find lucrative opportunities abroad.
Regarding the second issue, our dependency on foreign currency is primarily a consequence of being in the IT sector. It is needed for the acquisition of hardware and software, as well as highly specialised services and technical resources.
Consequently, without access to foreign currency, local companies can struggle to remain competitive. They are forced to adopt less technology and are constrained in their capability to develop services and establish partnerships that could significantly benefit the market. Some of the largest players in the sector have mitigated these constraints to an extent, for instance, through local cloud offerings. However, these solutions still address only a limited part of the market’s needs.

What are the key advantages that Menshen offers, and what are your objectives for the future?
Menshen is a consolidated company in the sector, boasting over 20 years of extensive experience working with some of the most challenging companies in Angola, ranging from the oil and gas sector to the banking sector. Our track record and awards are a testament to our capability to deliver high-quality services. Our integrity is well recognised, and our customers can vouch for this.
Key advantages of Menshen are our local talent and our robust partnership network, which provides us with experience, solidity and a depth of resources. These aspects collectively provide substantial assurance to our customers regarding our reliability and quality of service. Additionally, our local presence and the constant interaction we maintain with our clients ensures that we are always ready to support and respond swiftly to their needs.
As for our future objectives, we aim to continue investing in local talent and leveraging our strategic partnerships. This approach is intended to expand our presence in the market and foster deeper, more meaningful relationships with our customers.

Read our latest insights on:

• Angola