BrazilSimon-Kucher enters North African consultancy market with Cairo office
Global strategy and marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners has expanded its network to 36 offices across the globe, and has established a presence in the rapidly developing African market by opening a new office in Cairo. Martin Janzen and Sarah Shenouda will be in charge of the new operation.
“We are aiming at 2,000 employees by 2023,” said Simon-Kucher CEO Georg Tacke early last year, when the firm surpassed the 1000 employee mark. One year on, the firm employs over 1,100 professionals, and the growth is translating into monetary benefits as well, as its revenues surpassed €250 million for the first time in February this year.
The Germany-based consulting firm operates within the broader domains of sales and marketing, with a specific focus on pricing and revenue models. In recent times, the firm’s growth has been driven by the wave of digitalisation, which is heavily leveraged in Simon-Kucher’s solutions to ensure that clients are generating the highest possible profits.
“Right now, in times of digitalisation, our consulting topics such as growth strategies, pricing, sales and marketing, are in demand like never before. Many companies are wondering how they will continue to make money and grow sustainably in the digital future. This is exactly where we can help,” said Tacke.
Encouraged by this growth and motivated for more, the firm has now substantially diversified its international presence through the opening of an office in Cairo, representing its first foray into the African market, and taking its global reach to 24 countries.
As economies across Africa develop, a number of international firms are gravitating towards the continent in anticipation of future business. Nevertheless, most firms view Africa as a singular entity, and fail to consider the nuances in culture and economic practices across the various nations in Africa, which is essential to tailor an initial pricing and revenue model. This is where Simon-Kucher will hope to offer support.
“We’ll be one of the few international strategy consultancies in Egypt. The market offers enormous potential. Egypt is one of the two strongest industrialised nations in Africa. Strong economic growth and excellently trained local specialists make the market particularly attractive to us. Geographically speaking, Egypt is an ideal starting point to enter the African market,” added Tacke.
The establishment of a Cairo office places the firm among the ranks of some of the top consultancies in the world. The Big Four professional services firms – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC – all have offices in Cairo, as do other management consulting giants such as McKinsey & Company and Grant Thornton. Most firms' North African operations are also supplemented with offices in Morocco.
Simon-Kucher’s Cairo office will be presided over by Martin Janzen and Sara Shenouda.
Janzen is a Senior Director at Simon-Kucher, with previous experience at T-Mobil and Commerzbank AG, while Shenouda is a Manager at the firm and has preciously been an accountant for Austrian Airlines and an Assistant Lecturer for the German University in Cairo.
The new office is part of a larger expansion effort for the firm globally, and comes just weeks after it established an office in Chicago. Over the next few months, additional offices are likely to be added to this extensive network, situated at two opposing ends of the globe – in Shanghai and Mexico.
