Nurturing Talent Is Hard in Africa
Local business leaders are scarce amid lack of top schools, lower pay than in other regions
The Wall Street Journal | December 8, 2015
Lindsay Gellman

The Wall Street Journal article, "Nurturing Talent Is Hard in Africa," features Russell Reynolds Associates' research, "Attracting and Retaining Executive Talent in Africa" The article also quotes the paper's author, Simon Kingston, about the difficulty in finding, training and retaining executive talent in Africa. The article is excerpted below.
Africa is hailed as a major growth market for global businesses, but as global companies expand there, they are having a tough time finding leaders to run their operations.
That is the conclusion of a new report on executive talent by Russell Reynolds Associates, which surveyed 230 senior leaders and recruiters in Africa. Recruiters say companies are eager to recruit good hires in the region, but find that candidates with traditional management skills—such as the ability to drive change or build teams—are in short supply.
The report focused on the talent markets of Kenya and Nigeria, whose economies are growing rapidly, and South Africa, the continent’s most developed economy, yet the issues are common to many nations in sub-Saharan Africa, the authors note.
The issues will become more acute as more businesses expand in Africa, where gross-domestic-product growth is projected to strengthen to 4.5% this year and 5% next year, according to the African Economic Outlook 2015 report.
Driving the talent shortage is the African continent’s dearth of high-quality business schools, according to Simon Kingston, who leads the global development practice at Russell Reynolds.
In countries such as Kenya and Nigeria, many with management aspirations tend to leave for school or work abroad, and persuading them to return home for their career is a challenge, recruiters said.
To read the full article, click here.
Latest
- CMO Moves Jumped 25% In North America In 2020, Executive Search Firm Finds
- Russell Reynolds Associates: The Paris office strengthens with the arrival of a new Managing Director
- Choose To Challenge The State Of Gender Equity On Boards
- Family Offices Turn to Private-Equity Firms in the Hunt for Talent
- Top Corporate Governance Trends For 2021
- Recruitment of Diverse Directors Made History in 2020
- The State of Gender Equity on Boards
- We Surveyed The State of DEI in Tech. Here's How to Interpret the Results.
- How to Ensure a CMO Hire Will Be a Good Fit For the C-Suite
- Podcast: Completing the Job at Hand | Paul Ottolini, CFO, Russell Reynolds Associates