McKinsey opens Nairobi office with eye on East Africa

 

Britam Group managing director Benson Wairegi (left) and Real Insurance chairman Sam Kamau (right) at the signing of acquisition deal. Britam in June hired McKinsey to guide the financial services firm on how to integrate with Real Insurance. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION 

By HERBLING DAVID

In Summary

• McKinsey’s Kenya office will be the seventh in Africa and joins other hubs in Addis Ababa, Cairo, Casablanca, Johannesburg, Lagos and Luanda.
• The American company has bagged numerous tenders to offer restructuring advisory services to blue-chip Kenyan companies.
• McKinsey – known as the global ‘Mr fix-it’ firm for companies and governments - will have to fend off negative public perception given that the firm is mostly synonymous with job cuts whenever it undertakes corporate restructuring deals.

Global consultancy McKinsey & Co is set to officially open its Nairobi office later this month, with an eye on new business opportunities in Kenya and the East African region.

 

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The New York-based firm already has an operation at Delta Corner Tower in Westlands, which it will use as a regional hub to pursue management advisory deals from companies, and governments across eastern Africa.

McKinsey’s Kenya office will be the seventh in Africa and joins other hubs in Addis Ababa, Cairo, Casablanca, Johannesburg, Lagos and Luanda to offer professional guidance in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, governance, strategy and human resource.

“Our Kenya offices has not been officially opened as yet — we have plans for that in August,” McKinsey said in a statement to the Business Daily.

McKinsey’s move to set up shop in Nairobi comes at a time when the American company has bagged numerous tenders to offer restructuring advisory services to blue-chip Kenyan companies.

READ: McKinsey bags lucrative Kenya advisory deals

The Kenyan office signifies the value that McKinsey has placed on Kenya, highlighted by Nairobi’s status as the East African business hub and financial centre.

But McKinsey – known as the global ‘Mr fix-it’ firm for companies and governments - will have to fend off negative public perception given that the firm is mostly synonymous with job cuts whenever it undertakes corporate restructuring deals.

Britam in June hired McKinsey to guide the financial services firm on how to integrate with Real Insurance, a regional underwriter it acquired last year at a cost of Sh1.4 billion.

The US firm will advise Britam on how to merge employees and assets in Kenya, overhaul IT systems, rebrand assets and synchronise operations.

East African Breweries Limited in May contracted McKinsey to assist in restructuring the brewer’s distribution model and increase efficiency in moving products from its Ruaraka factory to distributors.

National Bank last year hired McKinsey to advise on reforming the lender’s executive suite which led to the scrapping of two positions of deputy CEO and implementation of a freeze on recruitment.

In place of the deputy CEOs, the bank now has divisional directors including finance, corporate and retail banking, who report to chief executive Munir Ahmed.