Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has announced that it has earmarked $100 million for investment into Africa. This ambitious growth strategy for the region focuses on investing in people and infrastructure, and aims to build an integrated advisory business that will recruit 8 000 additional partners and staff over the next five years.
According to Ian Powell, UK chairman and member of PwC’s Network Leadership Team, “Africa is an important frontier for economic growth. We believe the regional economy could double by 2020 to nearly $3 trillion and we are getting a clear signal from our international clients that Africa is an increasingly important market for them.“This confidence is supported by our African CEO survey which shows that 69% of CEOs in Africa are very confident of revenue growth over the next three years, compared to 51% of CEOs globally.”
PwC announced three initiatives to support the firm’s growth plans:
- PwC will be investing more than $100 million in additional skills and business infrastructure in firms across Africa over the next three years.
- There will be a further integration of PwC firms in order to provide advisory services across the continent through one Pan African entity.
- The PwC network will 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.
Ian Powell continues: “Bilateral trade between the UK and Africa is long established and is conservatively valued at around $30 billion a year for goods and at least the same again for services, and both are set to grow significantly in the near future. This investment will help to develop the African professional services sector to meet this growing demand.”
Suresh Kana, chief executive officer, PwC Southern Africa adds: “We have great confidence in the future of Africa and we are investing heavily in talent and skills development to ensure that we have the right people in the right place to continue to provide value for our clients in the years ahead.”