The benefits of operating in Africa have long been recognised and while these economies can be unpredictable but with both South African and Nigeria emerging from recession, many global organisations are looking to enhance their investment and growth plans. Population growth in many African cities is attracting greater investment. In his Agenda column published on 24th June 2018, Iain Dey former Business Editor of The Sunday Times explained that ‘
HSBC economist Stephen D King had suggested Africa could account for 40% of the world’s population by 2100’ that
‘there should be opportunities aplenty from this baby boom for UK plc’, but that Brexit distractions meant that this prospect is likely to be an opportunity lost. British businesses should act now. Looking at their talent pipeline and talent succession to make the most of this high growth market. *
The OECD Business Insights on Emerging Markets report from last year described how.
“ Urbanisation in Africa is rapidly occurring at an unforeseen pace - the population of cities has doubled in 20 years to reach 472 million in 2015. With such unprecedented growth, coupled with an expanding population in the middle-income range, African cities are an important and growing market for the private sector to build infrastructure and provide goods and services .”** With this renewed optimism and business expansion comes increased competition for talent at the senior level with many organisations increasingly developing local talent.
For organisations where the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are prime emerging markets, identifying, securing and retaining key local leadership talent is still a major challenge.
Finding effective talent solutions is possible, if organisations look outside of their tradition pools. Using a search partner with an established network of African talent who is also networked with Africans in disapora can provide a competitive advantage.
The cost of failed searches is high and choosing the right search partner, with the right network and highly skilled research capability, is the key to preventing this. If an organisation enjoys a successful relationship with a particular search partner for their Head Office search needs, it doesn’t necessarily follow that their affiliates are best placed to replicate that relationship in another market.
If you’d like to know more about Norman Broadbent and how we may help you, please do not hesitate to contact in confidence Angela Hickmore, Group Managing Director, via
angela.hickmore@normanbroadbent.com
*
Reaping riches of Africa’s baby boom, Iain Dey, Sunday Times 24/6/18 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/iain-dey-who-is-the-villain-at-mr-kipling-t8n0sq568
** https://www.oecd.org/dev/development-philanthropy/Consolidated_note_WEB.pdf