Mercer South Africa CEO on the firm’s plans across Africa

Going forth, human resources (HR) advisory firm Mercer expects to expand its suite of solutions and products, while consolidating its presence in individual markets across Africa. This is according to new CEO at Mercer South Africa Tamara Parker, who spoke to Ventures Africa.

Parker was appointed CEO in August this year, following an extended career in the advisory space that includes nearly a decade at global management consultancy Accenture. She is an expert in organisational design and has a wealth of experience in developing and delivering human capital and workforce solutions.

Her appointment at Mercer South Africa comes at a time when the firm is looking to expand across the continent. As the key financial centres across Africa continue on the road to global competitiveness, the business environment has recognised the need to challenge traditional notions of talent and human capital management.

According to Parker, Mercer is looking to capitalise on this scenario. “As the business world increasingly becomes complex our clients look to us to provide advice and technology solutions that will ensure that they remain competitive on the global stage. For this reason, we’re expanding our career solutions and products to help address some of the client’s challenges on diversity and inclusion, employee experience and the future of work in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Morocco while increasing penetration of our partnership with Alexander Forbes in South Africa. “

Evidence of this growth strategy has emerged over the course of last year, through a number of partnerships. In Ghana, the firm has formed a partnership with an HR sector standardisation body to conduct research in the field, while also partnering with the Learning Organisation to offer solutions. 

The partnership with Alexander Forbes mentioned by Parker was forged earlier this year, and has expanded to the Kenyan market as well. Mercer even has a strategic partnership in Zimbabwe to deliver solutions to the burgeoning business environment there.

“Our strategic partnership with Alexander Forbes, which saw the launch Arrive in April 2020, continues to deliver positive results as we seek to reach new territories and expand our solutions to help our clients solve some of today’s challenges. Our immediate focus is to establish regional hubs managed by local Mercer employees to help improve client relationships and expand our market reach further into East Africa and West Africa,” said Parker.