Background & Objective

A key objective of The Netherlands’ Embassy in Pretoria, together with the Consulate General in Cape Town, is to promote mutually beneficial bilateral trade and investment between South Africa and The Netherlands. In support of this and to further improve its services and communication, the Embassy aims to gain better insight into the number of Dutch companies active in South Africa; the nature of their economic activity in the country as well as their geographic locations.

Through this Request for Proposals, the Embassy wishes to identify a suitable service provider to conduct the above mentioned research.

Research Questions

The research output should be informed by at least the following elements:

• The type of establishment the company has in South Africa i.e. branch office, holding company, joint venture etc.
• The number of years the company has been active in South Africa.
• The South African sector/industry the company operates in.
• The province(s) in which the company is based and/or operates.
• The number of people employed (full time vs parttime) in South Africa.
• The number of Dutch expats employed in South Africa.
• The target market in South Africa i.e. B2B; B2C; B2G.
• Strategic reason for a presence in South Africa i.e. size/demand of the domestic market; outsourcing/low cost; gateway to Africa etc.
• The importance of the South African operations in terms of overall company performance.
• The economic outlook for South African operations over the next five years.

The final set of research questions will be formulated in agreement with the Embassy. The research should be conducted with sources both in The Netherlands and in South Africa.

Deliverables:

The following should be delivered by 5 April 2023:

1. An electronic report of the aggregated results in both narrative and visual format. The report will include an exhaustive (in as far as possible) list of Dutch companies with a presence in South Africa and a GIS map showing physical locations.  
2. A one-page summary (in the form of an infographic), which can be used in external communication. The exact content to be included will be determined in agreement  with the Embassy.
3. Access to raw data accumulated during the research, including the names of Dutch companies approached.

Preferred Partner

Suitable Service Providers should meet the following criteria:

• Access to relevant information on Dutch companies operating in South Africa.
• Experience with survey design and implementation.
• Proven ability to succinctly present complex, large data sets both narratively and visually.

Budget

A maximum budget of EUR 15.500,00 (including VAT) is available for this project.

Procedure

Suitable service providers are requested to submit proposals of maximum 2 pages by 15 February 2023. The following information should be included in the proposal

• Methodology
• Budget
• Motivation that criteria as described above are met