The New Equation

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

After analysing the forces facing the world and speaking with thousands of clients and stakeholders, we identified two fundamental and interconnected needs facing organisations of all kinds:

1. The need to build trust, which has never been more important, nor more difficult. Organisations increasingly need to earn trust across a wide range of topics that are important to their stakeholders. 
2. The need to deliver sustained outcomes in an environment where competition and the risk of disruption are more intense than ever and societal expectations have never been greater. 

We’re uniquely positioned to help clients address these two interconnected needs.

By bringing together multidisciplinary teams, powered by technology and drawing on deep specialist expertise – from ESG and audit to value creation and tax transformation – we can help clients meet the expectations of their shareholders, stakeholders and society.

This is what we call The New Equation.

To deliver the strategy, PwC globally will be investing US$12 billion over the next five years and creating 100,000 net new jobs. You can read more about our new global strategy, and the commitments our global firm is making, here.

PwC Africa is excited by the opportunity that The New Equation represents for our clients, employees and other stakeholders. The launch of our new global strategy comes at a time of unprecedented change – it will enable PwC teams to support clients and other stakeholders across the African continent to move toward greater sustainability and more inclusive growth, as well as to drive their digital evolution. The strategy will shape how PwC Africa develops in the coming years as we seek to deliver against our purpose in society - which is to build trust and solve important problems. As part of The New Equation, PwC’s Africa region is also announcing plans to meet the specific needs of clients in our market. We’ll continue focusing on the following, with plans of further commitments to be announced within the next few months:

• PwC Africa is committed to delivering quality in everything we do, and we are making substantial investments to further enhance quality. We’re committed to driving a strong culture of quality. It’s core to our purpose – to build trust in society and solve important problems. Importantly, it’s also what our clients and stakeholders expect of us, and rightly so. 
• The New Equation will lead PwC to make the most of the multi-disciplinary model - building capabilities at the depth and scale needed to serve our clients as they seek to build trust and deliver sustained outcomes.  At a time when businesses are evolving, we are focused on providing innovative, high-quality services and solutions. The trust that our clients and our people place in PwC, and our high standards of ethical behaviour are fundamental to everything we do.
• The new world of work will demand the development of new skills. PwC Africa is fully committed to continue to invest in helping our clients and our people to prepare for change brought about by advances in technology and digitalisation. Digitising our business is a strategic focus for the Africa firm, including upskilling all of our people and making them more digitally astute, including growing their competency with the firm’s digital assets and tools to deliver services to clients. To achieve this goal we will invest some 150,000 hours in training across the continent. Through our New World. New Skills initiative we’re excited to share what we've learned, and we plan to help businesses, governments, local communities, and individuals accelerate their own upskilling journeys. We believe everyone should be able to live, learn, work and participate in the digital world, but that will require business leaders, governments and educators to work together to make the world a more resilient, more capable and more inclusive place.

We are bringing the best of our people, capabilities and technology together to support our clients in building trust and delivering sustained outcomes for their businesses and society. 

We’re also using the skills and resources that we have, to make a difference in the societies in which we operate. The COVID-19 pandemic facing the world today is challenging businesses and economies, and impacting millions of people. It has highlighted the strong need for cross-border collaboration and alignment between economic activity and societal - human - needs. There’s a growing realisation that we won’t be returning to the old normal. We have the opportunity to choose a new normal where economic and social progress are aligned. We use the business skills we have, the knowledge we possess, and the tools at our disposal to promote greater opportunity for all, in the areas in which we know we can make a difference. In doing so, we’re focusing on areas where we know we can have the most impact for our clients, our people and our communities. We’re acutely aware that for such initiatives to succeed, we need to look at things differently, try new approaches and combine forces with like-minded organisations or initiatives to deliver. Our societal purpose strategy is firmly integrated into our business strategy, and supported by our purpose and core values. Read more about it here and look out for my next blog, where I’ll delve deeper into our societal impact strategy and initiatives.

And of course, our commitment to quality remains constant.