Interactive expands operations in South Africa

The deal will expand the portfolio of services offered by Interactive as well as expand its skills in the Internet development arena.

Andre DuToit, Chief Operation Officer at Interactive, explained the reasons for the African move: "We recognised a need for Hyperactive's multimedia services among many of our local and multinational clients. The team brings with them enormous creative talent at very competitive rates, a combination that is difficult to find locally or even anywhere in Asia. We were also delighted to find a close cultural fit between the two companies."

In addition to diversifying Interactive's portfolio by adding to it multimedia services, the move to South Africa will opens for the company an opportunity to recruit new staff as it continues its sustained growth trend. "In Cape Town alone, we expect our team of 16 professionals to reach 45 by the year end," DuToit added.

Headquartered in the Dubai Internet City, Interactive has shown a consistent year-on-year growth of over 50 per cent since inception in 1995, and the acquisition of Hyperactive was made with venture capital funding obtained from UK-based Armada Partners, followed shortly thereafter by global powerhouse Deutsche Bank.

Lynn Pierce-Hoffman, the 25-year industry veteran heading the operation in South Africa, pointed out that the deal was a turning point for her company as it opened up a new, more lucrative market. "Interactive has established itself as the leading e-Business solution provider in the Gulf, a new market for us with excellent longer term potential. Both government and corporate investment in Internet infrastructure is increasing," she said.

"Our multimedia capabilities such as hybrid CD-ROMs with click-through options are already being requested for a number of Interactive clients, including the Dubai Department of Economic Development, as well as large private firms that are going online," Pierce-Hoffman said.

According to the latest research, the markets for both networking and Internet software solutions in the Gulf region are currently growing at over twice the rate of those in Europe and North America. IT spending, excluding telecom spending, in this region is expected to reach USD2.1 billion this year. Most of this will be spent on hardware and networking products but about 3 per cent will be spent on e-business software.