PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the world’s largest professional services firm, Monday announced an ambitious growth strategy for Africa, featuring a US$ 100 million investment in people and infrastructure, a focus on building an integrated advisory business and plans to recruit 8,000 additional partners and staff over the next five years.
“Africa is an important frontier for economic growth. We believe the regional economy could double by 2020 to nearly US$ 3 trillion and we are getting a clear signal from our international clients that Africa is an increasingly important market for them,” said PwC International chairman Dennis Nally.
Announcing the strategy in Nairobi, Kenya, at a meeting with clients, partners and the firm’s staff, Nally added: “This confidence is supported by our African CEO survey which shows that 69 percent of CEOs in Africa are very confident of revenue growth over the next three years, compared to 51 percent of CEOs globally.”
Together with PwC’s Africa Central Territory senior partner, Philip Kinisu, Nally announced three new initiatives to support the firm’s growth plans, saying PwC will be investing more than US$ 100 million in additional skills and business infrastructure in firms across Africa over the next three years.
In a statement, made available to PANA here, he said there would be a further integration of PwC firms in order to provide advisory services across the continent through one pan-African entity.
In addition, Nally said the PwC network would be building world-class skills in Africa through recruitment, developing home-grown talent and facilitating international mobility across all the service lines.
“This will see PwC recruiting 8,000 additional staff and partners in Africa over the next five years,” he added.
Noting the firm’s 65 years existence in the region, Kinisu said: “We are confident about our future in Africa and prepared to invest to maintain our number one position.
“We also want to make sure we continue to provide value to our clients in Africa. Their needs are evolving as they look to transform their businesses in response to changing demographics, consumer tastes and competitor behaviour.”
PwC’s upcoming investment will be staggered over the next three years and spread across key markets in Africa.
According to Nally, people are the firm’s biggest asset and that explains why the majority of its investment will go towards recruiting additional skills, across assurance, tax and advisory businesses.
“Our focus will be on developing deeper industry expertise in relevant markets across Africa. We see Kenya as an important hub – both because of the availability of skills and the number of clients who have regional headquarters here,” he affirmed
From 1 January, 2012, PwC’s new pan-African advisory business will aim to bring together the transactions, strategy, operations, human resources, financial and IT consulting teams in East, West, and Southern Africa into a single business unit that will be under a new executive team.
PwC firms provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to enhance value for their clients, with more than 161,000 people in 154 countries in firms across the PwC network sharing experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.
In Africa, PwC has the largest footprint of any professional services network with firms in 31 countries, which work with most of the continent’s leading businesses and public sector organisations.
Fiscal year 2010 results show combined revenue of US$ 560 million and the firms employing over 7,600 staff and partners.
PwC, the world’s largest professional services firm, was formed in 1998 from a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers and Lybrand.
