Multinational companies are recognising the growth and potential for development of the African continent, particularly South Africa, the springboard to the continent, international consulting firm Monitor Group managing partner Stephen Jennings said on Wednesday.

“There is a wider realisation that it is ‘Africa’s moment’, and Monitor aims, as an international consulting firm, to accelerate growth and development in South Africa and into the economies of Africa,” he told Engineering News Online.

The question was no longer “when” companies would do business in Africa, but rather “how”. But in moving forward, South Africa would need to look strategically at the nature of its “internationalisation” and “what was going to be unique to South Africa” to attract international investment and businesses.

Further, the underlying slow growth in the UK and the US, has contributed to the realisation of growth potential in other parts of the world.

Speaking at the launch of a merger with local consulting group North Road Consulting, Jennings said that the partnership would play a key role in further building a local firm and bringing both local and international expertise to the country’s public and private sectors.

North Road Consulting founding partner Tebogo Skwambane, now a global partner at Monitor Group, and South Africa managing partner, said South Africa's public sector space, apart from mining, manufacturing and logistics, would remain one of the key markets for the company.

This was in its effort to ensure competitive and economic development through its services, particularly for State-owned enterprises, which she believed experienced challenges in managing resources.

Monitor Group is one of world’s top-five strategy consulting firms globally, and its partnership with North Road Consulting, was aimed at redefining the benchmark for empowerment and transformation in the strategy-consulting sector, Jennings said.

Monitor Group has been operating in South Africa since 1993, and is currently working on projects for the South African government, including the National Planning Commission, South Africa Tourism, as well as in the mining, retail, consumer products, telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing and energy sectors.

North Road Consulting was established six years ago and also operates in the mining, manufacturing, logistics, financial services, media and advertising space.