Simentra expand international presence to South Africa

Simentra continue to expand their international network of offices, associates and partners with the launch of a partner operation in Johannesburg, South Africa in conjunction with Herbert Penny Ltd. to further extend their global reach in the delivery of business acceleration services for high growth technology companies.

San Jose, Bracknell, Belfast, Sydney, 7th October 2003

Simentra Ltd, a business acceleration company providing a low-risk, cost effective and fast route to international sales revenues for early stage and venture capital backed high-growth technology firms, today announced a new partnership with Herbert Penny Ltd in South Africa which will see the launch of an office in Johannesburg for Simentra and the continued expansion of the company's international business acceleration services.

The company, headquartered in Belfast already operates additional international offices in Bracknell, UK , San Jose, California and Sydney, Australia. South Africa, with its recent bias to the development of new technology and its attraction as region for foreign direct investment has always been an integral part of the company development strategy and the partnership with Herbert Penny has helped to expedite the process more effectively;

"The partnership with Herbert Penny is a strategic opportunity for Simentra to offer international business acceleration services for high growth technology companies seeking international expansion. Our company have pursued the English speaking markets who have in recent years, seen the proliferation of interest in technology based businesses. Simentra expertise with government agency, academic institution and commercial technology clients will offer a great service to similar clients in South Africa initially seeking expansion or investment opportunity. It also provides an opportunity for our existing clients to consider potential offshore operations in South African territories" commented Gareth White, a founder of Simentra.

Herbert Penny, owned and operated by John Penny have been an established property developer, economic adviser and financial brokering firm nearly 100 years and have offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The company will operate with the Simentra brand under Penny as Managing Director for the region for the company. The partnership with Simentra is designed to foster new opportunity for the exploitation of emerging technologies from South Africa internationally and the promotion of new innovative Science Park destinations as international centres of excellence.

"South African technology companies need to reach outside their national market to exploit the full potential of their innovation. Having become involved in the development of new and innovative companies, Simentra was an opportunity to forge established global links that provided sales expertise on the ground in a range of international locations. South Africa needs direct access to a broad spectrum of experts, providing in-depth counsel and execution for sales and marketing, marketing communications, finance, research, organization design, vendor management and channel management. Traditionally, companies had to shop around and assemble ad hoc teams to achieve this result, with difficult project management and accountability issues all part of the package. With Simentra, you get the best in-market talent available, project management and accountability of those overseas experts right here in South Africa and we are very excited about the future potential from some of the innovation that we have seen here in our country " said Penny.

The company are already impressing their services upon the University arena, technology incubators, inward investment agencies and commercial technology companies in South Africa. With the national market restricting the potential international growth of high technology, Simentra are hoping to introduce the best that South Africa has to promote in an international context. This is a simple placeholder while you edit your page.

About Simentra Ltd

Simentra Ltd is an International Risk Assessment company dedicated to providing intelligent and cost effective solutions to government, private corporations and the emergency services sector. The company Charter Series offers a range of assessment, fusion and training products and services to mitigate the risks associated with modern society and business practice and prepare for associated response protocols. Simentra is a subsidiary of AssetCo PLc in the UK www.assetco.com . Simentra has offices in Belfast (Northern Ireland), London (UK), and Houston (USA).

For more information, please visit http://www.simentra.com/