Mr. Thierry Guerin
Eurostral

Angola - 03/10/2005
To start, could you tell us the history of Eurostral?

Eurostral is a partnership between Angolan and French people started around 2001. It’s a company with the aim to be a travel agency and a rent a car.

What are the development expectations?

We are still developing but at the moment it is not going to bad. We have about 350 persons working for Eurostral, two third in Luanda, the rest is in our division in Soyo and we are installing another division in Lobito. We estimate the income of Eurostral this year about ten million dollars. We are trying to improve the ticketing service. We will also develop a new concept for the publicity lecture, offering complete packages with the best services, new office installations, competent people and personalized services.

Which are, according to you, the advantages of Eurostral compared to other companies in the same sector?

Honestly until now I didn’t care about the others, I’ve been busy with my own business! Angola is a big piece of cheese of which nobody knows the size. We try to keep vehicles in a good state, be aware of staff’s quality and the driver has to be correct with customers. Also we only have new cars, which is quite important. When some other companies have fifteen months aged car, with the roads of Luanda, it becomes professionalism!!!

Then, we have our own workshops, offering us a complete autonomy. We are doing the total maintenance and painting of our cars. This way we are capable to work with a night team in order to get the car ready faster.

Also, I think we are 20% cheaper than the competition, but for me this is not the most important. Eurostral is known as a serious enterprise with competitive prices, clients

Honestly, today there isn’t any problem for any company since demand is superior to the offer. But one day everything will stabilize. And we are trying to be prepared to that moment, cause at that time we will see the people who really manage in this job and the once who did not. Let me also highlight the fact that there is a lot of informal business, some people owning 4 or 5 cars renting them without authorizations.

You told us about the mechanics workshop and everything, but how many cars do you have at this moment?

Today we have about 90 cars running. Things are going so fast, that our gamma is changing every month, some disappear and other arrives.

What is the profile of your customers?

Hard to say, it can be everybody, it can be individuals.

Are you trying to find foreign investors?

Well actually we already have some contacts with investors, but if some others are interested we will be pleased to attend them. From the moment a serious investor comes with clear ideas, accept the local legislation…here we are, we know the country, we know the people, and we know how to counter the major falls.

To finish this interview, what would be your message to the readers, of U.S.News & World Report?

American investors have to understand that Angola works with Portuguese rules and they will need to adapt themselves to the context and the mentality of the country. It is not a critic, just an observation. People having successful business, are integrated and usually speak Portuguese.

One last advice, Angolans are really charming, they are very receptive people. But in business it is not because people do receive you very well, that your business will succeed. Quite often people get euphoric in an excessive way, and the biggest deception is when nothing gets done.

Translation by Inge Van Cauwenberg