Our Search specialist, Stephen Barham, has been taking a look at Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) markets across Africa – here are his six key product and workforce trend observations:

1. Significant Diversification within countries impacted by FX volatility and devaluation. Recently, in Nigeria, due to the large devaluation, many multinational companies have cut back on their brands and removed some entirely. There has been an increased demand for candidates who have experience within the French speaking XOF denominated countries as some of these multi-national corporations look to expand operations outside of Nigeria. This change in demand has resulted in cost-inflation for experienced local candidates and increased current remuneration packages of 30% – 45%, especially in locations such as Cote d’Ivoire.
2. Reduction of Reliance on Expatriates. This is something that we have seen across all sectors and has been a trend for some time. The focus has pivoted away from expatriates to replace with local talent in senior leadership roles.  This has been driven by the increased costs of employing non-nationals, together with local legislation making the acquisition of visas more difficult. Currently, Executives in Africa sees 78% of successful hires being African nationals.
3. Remote working.  We have seen an increase in the flexibility offered by clients on the candidates’ location. We have recruited a number of positions where being based within a +/- 2 hours Time Zone is more important than being physically located within the operation/client location.
4. Gender Diversification. There continues to be an increase in the focus on gender balance within leadership teams and specific requests for the identification of potential female talent for key roles. This is driving remuneration inflation for this profile of candidate.  In South Africa, we have experienced the remuneration levels of female candidates being up to 40% higher than their male counterparts.  Over the last three years, 29% of the candidates placed by Executives in Africa have been female.
5. E-Commerce and Digitalisation: Penetration of smartphones and internet connectivity has increased, and more consumers are turning to online platforms to purchase FMCG products, especially in urban areas where convenience is valued. We have seen many of our clients invest both from a talent perspective and infrastructure. This has driven recruitment demand within these areas for candidates with this expertise and again has created remuneration inflation.

February 2025

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