PwC Announces Ambitious Growth Strategy for Africa

• US$100 million investment
• Launch of integrated advisory business
• Plans to recruit an additional 8,000 people

PwC, Africa’s leading professional services firm, has today announced an ambitious growth strategy for the region. This features a US$100 million investment in people and infrastructure, a focus on further building an integrated advisory business and plans to recruit 8,000 additional partners and staff over the next five years.

Ian Powell, UK Chairman and member of PwC’s Network Leadership Team, said today in Johannesburg, South Africa: “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.

“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:  

1. PwC will be investing more than US$100 million in additional skills and business infrastructure in firms across Africa over the next three years.
2. There will be a further integration of PwC firms in order to provide Advisory services across the continent through one Pan African entity
3. 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 continued: “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.”

“Our people are our biggest asset and it is no surprise that the majority of our investment will go towards recruiting additional skills, across our Assurance, Tax and Advisory businesses. Our focus will be on developing deeper industry expertise in key markets across Africa.”
Suresh Kana, Chief Executive Officer, PwC Southern Africa added: “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.”