Ubuntu Bethu is an ancient African mantra meaning “Our Humanity''. At PwC Africa, we see it is a call to action – to work together to deliver sustained outcomes for our communities and societies. What Africa needs right now are champions of economic and social change that can help create a new paradigm that benefits all its citizens in an innovative and sustainable way.
At PwC, we are a community of solvers coming together in unexpected ways to solve society's most important problems. We have been doing so for a long time, and since 2014, we have done this with a more sharpened focus after Booz & Company joined the global PwC network. This venture bore a new kind of consulting business that we named Strategy&.
The name Strategy& signifies what Booz & Company brought to the PwC network: the ability to support the shaping of corporate and other strategies, and to help clients translate this advice into tangible actions. It is what we call a strategy-to-execution approach, and is one that is based on a 100-year consultancy legacy.
Over the last 10 years, Strategy& Africa has supported our clients in delivering successful strategies that focus on their differentiated capabilities, enabling them to be fit-for-growth and drive new market opportunities.
Recognising the need to be where our clients are, we launched Strategy& in Nigeria – one of Africa’s largest and most vibrant economies – in 2022, bringing the total number of Strategy& consultants across West and Southern Africa to over 70.
Driven by Ubuntu Bethu
In the past decade, we have witnessed several society-changing global events – from a global pandemic, to major supply chain shortages due to ongoing geopolitical unrest, energy shortages, intensifying climate change and increasingly tough economic conditions.
Strategy&, among others, joined forces with Business for South Africa to provide analytical skills and strategic insights to understand the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on different industries, and how the public sector could respond to support them. As South Africa continues to face a myriad of social challenges, Strategy& has and continues to play an integral role in bolstering many of the country’s growth initiatives. To date, some of these initiatives include playing a key role in the development of a ground-breaking public-private collaboration model being implemented through Lebalelo Water User Association to implement water infrastructure and deliver water to meet private sector and community needs in Limpopo.
As Strategy&, we don’t just envision the future – we actively shape it. In this vein, we supported the collaboration between local banks, BankservAfrica, the Payments Association of South Africa and other players in the banking industry with the launch of PayShap in 2023. The core objective of PayShap is to deepen digital financial enablement via an accessible and inclusive cashless payment option that is viable for everyone. This provides a method to address financial inclusion of future generations by creating a platform for instant, real-time payment services for low-value transactions.
Looking ahead, we recognise the need to address structural issues that constrain the growth of our economy and threaten national and regional social stability. Strategy& is currently developing a public-private energy collaboration-aggregation model to address long term energy security in the Southern African region.
Today, society expects more from companies. Organisations are being called on to be more transparent about their operations and the impact they have on communities and society. Core to our expertise is conducting comprehensive impact assessments to help clients measure this impact on society and the environment, and identify implementable solutions to improve this.
Our philosophy is 'strategy, made real'. As we strive ahead, we are committed to not only envisioning a sustained future for Africans, but actively shaping it. We will continue providing the cutting-edge strategies that are needed to make this a reality in Africa, benefiting our clients and society at large.
This post and content is sponsored, written and produced by PwC.