PwC announces investment to accelerate Africa growth opportunities

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, July 30, 2014/ -- PwC has today announced it is increasing its investment in Africa and building closer links between PwC UK and PwC Africa, to meet increased demand for professional services as trade activity between the two regions grows. 

The investment is part of PwC’s ongoing strategy to develop high potential markets, and follows the UK firm’s successful investment in Central and Eastern Europe.

Ian Powell, UK Chairman and Senior Partner, commented:

"This is an exciting development which enhances our ability to serve clients across the fastest growing region in the world. Africa has an abundance of natural resources and seven of the world’s fastest growing economies meaning the opportunities for UK business are significant.”

Suresh Kana, PwC Africa Network Territory Senior Partner, said:

“This is great news for our network. Over the years we have built PwC into the leading network in Africa. We now see huge opportunities to build our capabilities further as we will be able to invest even faster in key industry sectors such as Capital Projects & Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, Government & Public Sector and Financial Services. We have great teams in Africa and this investment will help us build more local capacity, and create teaming and secondment opportunities.”

As part of the investment, Paul Cleal, PwC UK partner and chair of its Africa Business Group, will be seconded to the African Leadership team and based on the continent.

PwC teams from the UK and Africa have a strong track record of working together to support businesses, governments and NGOs in nations such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zambia with expertise in fields such as economic development, climate change, education, infrastructure, natural resources, and power and utilities.

The UK is renowned for the strength of its business and professional services sector and this deal is a demonstration of how the nation can play to its strengths on the global stage. This commitment not only benefits our clients and the PwC network, but is also good for the UK and African economies.

Professional and business support services is one of the most successful sectors in the UK economy, contributing 12% of total UK GDP - more than financial services (8.5%) or manufacturing (10%). The sector has grown by nearly 6% a year since Q3 2009 and has been one of the biggest job-creating sectors in the UK economy as well as a major contributor to UK exports.

A 2013 report by BIS – ‘Growth is our business: A Strategy for Professional and Business Services (PBS)’ – recognised the contribution of the professional and business services sector to the UK economy, and highlighted the opportunities in developing markets. Other business services contribute 29% of total services exports and totalled £58.6 billion in 2013, with a trade surplus of £29.3 billion.

Nokia Lumia 2520:Why Windows 8.1 Tablet's Are Your Best Pick !

Without doubt Android based Tablets are the majority and most used Tablets in the market but if you are used to your Windows based personal computer(pc) and would like to engage the same functionality on other devices any tablet or phone that runs the Windows 8.1 is your best pick. Locally the Nokia Lumia 2520 may be your best pick .

This is not a review of the tablet as there is already much written on it especially since  its launch in 2013 (please watch the video for specifications and hands on demo)  but rather its my opinion as to why running the Windows 8.1 operating system by Microsoft is a game changer in the mobile devices market.

Most of us  have used windows desktop software for much of our social ,academic and business activities.We find it relatively easy to navigate Microsoft Office tools and platform.It therefore makes much sense that we would prefer having these functionality across our different devices.

It so happens that some of us have customized software  for different functions perhaps its research , business, tracking or other software and we find it a tad bit hard engaging a developer to generate an app that can run on our hand held devices.This is where Windows 8.1 devices become readily convenient.The guys up at Marketing at Nokia/Microsoft should actually take advantage of this and run with it ! but so far as yet their approach is down.!

Surprisingly Microsoft after purchasing the Nokia franchise have not been aggressive enough in pushing /advertising their Windows based Tablets in the emerging markets which is their largest consumers.For example just searching for the availability online of the Nokia Lumia 2520 Windows 8.1 Tablet will reveal just press releases by a number of bloggers and news websites.

Their is hardly any review of the gadgets, scant information as to its availability in Kenya, East Africa or the Sub Saharan Region.All price quotations are in anticipated Dollar price rather than Kshs. A search on Midcom East Africa facebook page reveals that many people want  to know how much the device goes for and where to purchase it but there is hardly  any response, just a deafening silence.That's how a good product gets buried under in all the noise that is tech products!

Air Algerie Flight AH5017 Goes Missing Over Northern Mali

An Algerian Airplane Flight AH5017 has gone missing over Mali.This has raised fears of a possible crash  due to the  weather conditions and the volatile conditions in the area due to civil strife and armed conflict in the region.This has come shortly after the Air Malaysia crash in Ukraine raising concerns in the international airline industry as to the safety of passenger airplanes especially in conflict regions.
(see  News Clip below)

While its too early to speculate clearly the safety of international airlines needs to be looked afresh.

In present day age and technology its simply incomprehensible to fathom how a Jumbo Jet can simply disappear hours on end without the slightest trace of where the same may be whereas with simple modern day satellite gps tracking systems one can pinpoint the exact location of a motor vehicle within fraction of a second.Clearly something is amiss!