Meeting customer demand and achieving shareholders’ objectives continues to be a challenge for most companies seeking to expand in East Africa, PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested in a new report on Tuesday.
While many organisations across the globe are expanding or seeking to expand into Africa, attracting and retaining the right talent continues to be a key challenge for a number of companies, Africa Business Agenda 2016 survey released at the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali states.
“East Africa is in a good place now in terms of demographics and relative political stability,” Country and Regional Senior Partner for PwC in Kenya and East Africa Anne Eriksson said. “We have seen a multitude of organisations expand significantly in East Africa – what continues to be a challenge for most of them is ensuring that they can meet demand and so achieve their shareholders’ objectives, and at the same time maintain high standards of quality.”
The Africa Business Agenda report which compiles results from 153 CEOs and includes insights from business and public sector leaders from across Africa, shows global financial and economic crisis has made Africa vulnerabile to a number of external economic shocks.
These include the collapse in value of the emerging market currencies against the US-dollar in anticipation of an interest rate hike.
“CEOs in Africa are ramping up their efforts to innovate and find new ways to do business on the continent in a move to stimulate growth in a challenging and uncertain global business environment,” PwC Africa CEO Hein Boegman said.
However, the survey gives the region a clean bill of health on demographics and political stability, which makes it a good investment destination for both multinationals, venture capital and private equity funds.
“Africa’s business leaders have the opportunity to pursue new business opportunities on the continent, more particularly in the light of rapid innovative and technological advances that have the potential to transform and shape industries,” Anne Eriksson, country and regional senior partner for PwC in Kenya and East Africa said.