The Tata Group's operations in Africa are growing steadily; its reach has spread to 11 African countries and has an investment base worth billions of rands. The latest projects to be announced are two new hotels coming up in South Africa.

The first project has already started in Cape Town and the second one will be located in Johannesburg. "We are also interested in building a hotel in Durban. Due to some issues we could not start that, but we will come back as and when those issues are resolved," says Tata Africa managing director Raman Dhawan. The new hotels will greatly increase the Taj Group's bouquet of African destinations; the luxury chain already manages the Taj Pamodzi at Lusaka, Zambia.

Although the Tatas have been operating in Africa for six decades, the Group's presence in South Africa is relatively new, just thirteen years. But in that time, Tata has built up a network of businesses in several sectors. The automobile industry is a focus area; apart from distribution and marketing of Tata Motor vehicles, the Group makes bus bodies in Johannesburg and is looking to assemble vehicles as well.

One of the largest investments of Tata in South Africa is the new ferrochrome smelter in Richards Bay that makes 130,000 tons of ferrochrome for the export market. Telecom is another big area with Tata taking a major stake in Neotel, South Africa's second national fixed line licensee. Tata Consultancy Services also has a significant presence in the region.

Mr Dhawan attributes the growth of the Tata Group in Africa to the organisation's forward-thinking vision of investing in the community and generating resources for the use of a broader section of society. This year Tata scholarships have been offered to post graduate students of the University of KwaZulu Natal.

The scholarships are in keeping with the Tata Group's principles of philanthropy and social responsibility, and are just one of many examples of the Group's commitment to work with the local community towards betterment of their lives.