SINGAPORE -- Singapore trading company Grupo Kaybee set up shop in Africa in the mid-1970s, seeking out opportunities in the chaotic and unstructured markets on Africa's west coast. Starting off in Senegal and Ivory Coast, the company expanded into 25 countries, as far south as Congo and Angola.
"We were trading in anything and everything," said Chief Executive Govind Karunakaran. "Anything you could lay your hands on: textiles, electrical goods, mosquito coils, mosquito nets, nail cutters, lanterns, all kinds of things."
