Executive search goes for big game in Africa

Executive Search is the consultative service of recruiting individuals to fill senior executive positions in organisations.

An Executive Search consultant will be retained on an exclusive basis by a client, always an organisation, to gain an understanding of the client’s management hiring needs, to help fine tune the profile sought, then find and approach matching individuals with a view to taking them out of their current company and placing them in the client’s organisation.

Executive Search is a well-established methodology, strongly enhanced today by new technologies, which enable consultants to work in cross-border teams.

On the African continent South Africa is usually the first country from where a foreign investor launches its business gradually expanding into other countries.

Most of the multinationals have been active in South Africa for quite some time and are showing an active interest in the sub-Saharan region in the recent years. 

To some extent, the worldwide economic conditions have slowed down this expansion.

From the Executive Search stand point South African market is well developed with most of the major international executive search players present in the country and many of the multinational and local firms using this method effectively to attract key professionals.

Despite the recession we are observing a continuing demand for senior level executives.

Companies are now much more focused on productivity and financial results, having to deliver with fewer resources at hand. This reflects in their willingness to zoom in on management talent, determine who can bring value to the table, and utilise Executive Search in order to ensure they attract the right talent at executive level. 

For the foreign investors the most notable aspect of recruiting in South Africa is the Black Economic Empowerment  (BEE) - a programme of the South African government that gives previously disadvantaged groups economic opportunities that were not available to them.

In order to comply with legislation the companies need to attract sufficient BEE candidates, which many investors regard as one of the biggest challenges.

Therefore, organisations prefer to use a carefully chosen Executive Search firm with local knowledge and extensive network of qualified and experienced executive candidates.

Key focus areas in South Africa are information and communication technologies, construction and engineering, although the number of projects has slightly decreased after the end of the World Cup.

Mining is another growing area, but is highly dependant on prices for commodities.

Executive Search in the sub-Saharan Africa region is still in its infancy; recently however there seems to be an increasing number of international Executive Search firms that plan to start operations there.

The majority of these firms usually operate from abroad and use local partners to execute their projects. Our business strategy and commitment to clients involves on-the-ground presence, and we already have offices in Johannesburg, Lagos and Cairo (opening December 1, 2010) and planning further swift expansion across the continent.

Local presence is particularly important, as it is notoriously difficult to obtain reliable business data in Africa. Companies are very secretive about their performance and their staff, which makes reference checks challenging especially when performing them from abroad, without a local network of reliable sources.

The most dynamically developing sectors across the sub-Saharan region are Financial Services, Healthcare, Telecommunications and resource-based sectors such as Oil & Gas in Nigeria.

In Africa generally, there is a demand by companies for senior managers from Europe and America, especially in smaller African countries where there is a dearth of management talent. Similarly to South Africa, governments such as that of Nigeria seek to promote local managers. A number of African countries now have laws that restrict the number and sometimes type of positions that can be filled by expatriates and the objective of this is to ensure that local nationals are being groomed to man the commanding positions of the economy.

To some extent, the demand for management talent is filled by African nationals who have studied and worked abroad, in the UK or the USA for example. The rapid growth of the sub-Saharan region, however, has pushed companies to find alternative solutions, and the demand for “imported” management talent is still significant. 

The writer is Partner, Head of Middle-East, Africa & India, Pedersen & Partners