e

careers in africa top 100 A Study developed by

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The 100 best

companies to
work for in Africa
Up to now, the recruitment narrative has too
often focused on telling the story from the
employer side. What had not been provided was
a view from the African talent pool itself. This
is what we have set out to achieve in what is the
most comprehensive and complete study to be
done in Africa to date: the Careers in Africa
Employer of Choice study. In total, 13,242 African
professionals provided their views on employer
attractiveness to help us put together a ranking
of the continent’s top employers. The survey,
methodology and outreach was spearheaded by
leading recruitment specialists the Global Careers
Company in association with Towers Watson.

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 E m p l o y e r
New entrants, new markets and diversifying economies mean that a premium is still placed on
leadership and scarce skills talent. Employers find the talent market increasingly competitive,
while candidates have an increased amount of choice. We hope the insights from the Careers in
Africa Employer of Choice study will provide both groups with data to support better decisions.
What makes a
great employer
O
ne of the first insights from
the study is the apparent
need for companies to offer
something different to can-
didates. If anything, this is
truly a ‘buyer’s market’, with
the buyers being the prospective employees.
It may appear obvious but companies need
to think within an African context; what
works or what may be attractive elsewhere is
not necessarily the case in Africa. The study
was produced in association with Towers
Watson, employee engagement specialists.
They specialise in researching and tracking
trends globally in terms of motivation of
individuals in the field of employment and
found that our study results bucked the
global trends they had noted elsewhere. Sal-
ary for example, according to our respond-
ents, was less critical than the opportunity to
learn new skills or making an impact on the
business. This is a hugely positive message for
a set of markets focused on growth, devel-
opment and opportunity, yet it is one most
employers have failed to properly capitalise
on, with few regionalising their ‘Employer
Value Proposition’ (EVP). The companies
surveyed generally offer the same benefits
as those they present in other markets. And
it is a point companies will need to address,
according to Yves Duhaldeborde, director
at Towers Watson: “This research adds a
great deal to the debate on how we compen-
sate workers in Africa. It’s clear that unlike
many developed economies base pay isn’t
an important driver and employers need to
look at how to incentivise their workforce
through initiatives that encourage new skills
and promote opportunities to make a dif-
ference to the organisation.”
What the Top 100 ranking reveals is
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that professionals can and do differentiate
between the EVPs of potential employers
from their vantage points outside these
businesses. A significant variance in ratings
suggests that whether intentionally or not, a
clear message is being communicated to the
market. This should prompt employers to
question where the difference in perception
is being created and whether the relevant
factors, once identified, can be positively
leveraged in the race for talent.
Looking at the data behind the Top 100,
one thing immediately apparent is the lack
of correlation between the volume of ratings
a brand received and the strength of those
ratings. This might not seem surprising un-
til it is understood that respondents were
asked to identify companies they would be
interested in working for. That is, candi-
dates suggested they would be interested in
working for a particular organisation and
yet often made a negative judgement of that
company’s employer brand.
Clearly, the ideal is for a brand to receive
a large number of positive reviews, as the
World Bank or GE for example managed
to do. However, for those who clocked up
significant interest but struggled to record
a strong brand rating, there are lessons to
take away.
Whom and where
First, while they may be receiving
applications from those candidates who are
interested in the brand, these employers may
find it more difficult to secure the decision
to join or gain the long-term loyalty of
talent that is more positively engaged with
other brands. Equally, brands which have
demonstrated through the volume of reviews
they received that there is a considerable
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market for their message, stand to gain an
enormous amount by making improvements
in their overall rating.
The inverse of this example occurs too.
We have produced an additional list, com-
panies to look out for. These are companies
who did not secure enough reviews to reli-
ably make our ranking but who secured
exceptionally high ratings from a fairly sub-
stantial number of candidates. Ethiopian
Airlines, Nissan, Arik Air and Murray and
Roberts, among others, all demonstrated
that a particularly positive perception can
be created despite a reduced reach.
Ethiopia n A irlines provides a n
interesting example of another trend visible
in the Top 100, which is that regional
and local employer brands can be highly
competitive in terms of their rating by
the talent pool. East African Breweries
too, not only finished among the highest
rated employer brands in the list, but also
scored comfortably higher than parent
entity Diageo. The reasons behind this
performance are worth considering, as
it is a scenario repeated elsewhere, with
Nigerian Breweries and Heineken another
such example.
Is it possible that the talent pool, or sec-
tions of it, have a certain loyalty to local
brand names? Or is it rather that regional
and local employer brands can be naturally
more specific, more targeted to the talent
they are seeking than a multinational equiv-
alent with multiple audiences can be? We
think it’s a little of both, but the argument
for the importance of communicating a
specific message is borne out by the perfor-
mance of these brands. Interestingly, and
maybe logically, local and regional brands
performed much less well, both in terms of
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 quantity and quality of ratings, when look-
ing at their scores from respondents outside
of their country or region. This suggests that
perhaps they are struggling to compete for
reach with multinational firms, or else those
internationally experienced candidates feel
greater affinity with the offerings of inter-
national brands. Either way, returning to
the focus on the race for talent, these brands
are wasting an enormous opportunity by
not reaching out specifically to candidates
outside their home markets with a targeted
value proposition. Clearly, they can be com-
petitive; it only remains to reach the right
people with the right message outside of
their local catchment areas.
What works, what doesn't
Looking at the nominees too, for the Ca-
reers in Africa Employer of Choice Awards
which were drawn out of the study, we can
make some observations about what is
working well across sectors, and how com-
panies can create an EVP which differenti-
ates them based on key areas of strength.
Take for example the likes of Safaricom
and McKinsey. Overall they may not have
attained the highest scores, however across
certain criteria they are perceived as very
strong. For example in the categories relat-
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ing to personal development and leader-
ship at the top McKinsey is perceived as
What the Top very strong. Safaricom’s CSR reputation
precedes it. And that’s what make them
100 ranking attractive and gives them a competitive
reveals is that edge as it makes them stand out in areas
that are deemed important to prospective
professionals employees. Another interesting example
can and do is Afreximbank, who were perceived as a
middle of the road company. However they
differentiate scored very highly under leadership criteria,
between the which demostrates the confidence the mar-
EVPs of potential ket has in their senior management.
Today a number of job functions are sec-
employers. tor neutral, in that skills sets can be applied
across a diverse number of industries. This
applies to functions such as finance, sales,
marketing or HR. As such, the attractive-
ness of an industry or what that industry
can offer to an employee becomes the critical
determining factor. Investment banking in
Europe and the US for example no longer
has the same appeal it used to have. It is now
tech related companies and start-ups that
attract the best talent despite more precari-
ousness and lower relative pay. We could not
identify one single trend across Africa and
each sector has its appeal. The winners and
nominees from the awards covered a number
of sectors (see page 66). An exception to this
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Rank Company Sector Score

1 P&G FMCG & Retail 131.16

2 East African Breweries Ltd FMCG & Retail 133.18
3 Microsoft Information Technology 139.03
4 DSTV Digital Media Media & Communications 140.75
5 Total Oil & Gas 141.35
6 Shell Oil & Gas 141.50
7 JP Morgan Banking & Financial Services 141.54
8 Visa Payments Technology 142.19
9 GE Energy & Utilities 142.73
10 PETROBRAS Oil & Gas 143.37
11 Unilever FMCG & Retail 143.40
12 Tullow Oil Oil & Gas 143.81
13 World Bank Group Education, Government, IGO & NGO 143.99
14 Nigerian Breweries FMCG & Retail 144.23
15 Sahara Group Oil & Gas 144.60
16 Vodafone Media & Communications 144.70
17 McKinsey & Company Professional Services 145.60
18 BG Group Oil & Gas 146.89
19 Chevron Oil & Gas 148.25
20 Nigeria LNG Oil & Gas 149.46
21 Statoil Oil & Gas 149.50
22 Heineken International FMCG & Retail 150.32
23 British American Tobacco FMCG & Retail 150.58
24 Safaricom Media & Communications 150.64
25 Mastercard Payments Technology 150.66
26 BHP Billiton Mining 152.18
27 Citi Banking & Financial Services 152.37
28 Cisco Information Technology 153.14
29 Accenture Professional Services 153.59
30 KPMG Professional Services 153.86
31 IFC Education, Government, IGO & NGO 154.48
32 Standard Chartered Bank Banking & Financial Services 154.60
33 Halliburton Oil & Gas 154.84
34 Deloitte Professional Services 156.15
35 SAB Miller FMCG & Retail 156.77
36 Oracle Information Technology 156.81
37 Coca-Cola FMCG & Retail 156.87
38 Nestlé FMCG & Retail 157.04
39 APM Terminals Aviation, Logistics & Shipping 157.20
40 Anglo American Mining 157.23
41 Exxon Mobil Oil & Gas 157.34
42 Oando Plc Oil & Gas 157.84
43 EY Professional Services 158.50
44 ABSA Bank Limited Banking & Financial Services 158.55
45 PwC Professional Services 158.72
46 Schlumberger Oil & Gas 158.75
47 Ericsson Media & Communications 159.19
48 Africa Oil Corporation Oil & Gas 159.27
49 Lafarge Group Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates 159.29
50 Cargill Agribusiness, Oil & Gas 159.46

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 Employer of choice top 100
Rank Company Sector Score

51 IBM Information Technology 160.27

52 BP Oil & Gas 160.82
53 Nedbank Banking & Financial Services 161.79
54 GSK Pharmaceuticals 162.13
55 Central Bank of Nigeria Education, Government, IGO & NGO 162.21
56 L'Oreal FMCG & Retail 162.62
57 Rio Tinto Mining 162.66
58 Roche Pharmaceuticals 162.90
59 Barclays Banking & Financial Services 163.00
60 Expro Oil & Gas 163.28
61 Development Bank of Southern Africa Education, Government, IGO & NGO 164.21
62 Sanofi Aventis Pharmaceuticals 164.32
63 Dangote Group Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates 164.46
64 Africa Internet Group Information Technology 165.20
65 Millicom/Tigo Media & Communications 165.75
66 Old Mutual Banking & Financial Services 166.36
67 Aggreko International Projects Energy & Utilities 166.63
68 Orange Media & Communications 166.84
69 Alcatel Lucent Media & Communications 167.23
70 Vodacom Media & Communications 167.33
71 Engen Oil Oil & Gas 167.62
72 Kenya Airways Aviation, Logistics & Shipping 167.71
73 Puma Energy International Oil & Gas 168.50
74 Schneider Electric Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates 168.82
75 Econet Media & Communications 168.97
76 DHL Aviation, Logistics & Shipping 169.08
77 Afreximbank Education, Government, IGO & NGO 169.24
78 Vivo Energy Oil & Gas 170.18
79 3M Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates 170.41
80 Airtel Media & Communications 170.91
81 ENI Oil & Gas 171.29
82 African Development Bank Education, Government, IGO & NGO 171.52
83 AngloGold Ashanti Mining 171.53
84 Conoco Phillips Oil & Gas 172.07
85 Diageo FMCG & Retail 172.24
86 Etisalat Media & Communications 173.53
87 Petronas Oil & Gas 174.31
88 Anadarko Oil & Gas 175.01
89 Saipem Oil & Gas 175.35
90 Barloworld Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates 175.56
91 Addax Petroleum Oil & Gas 176.03
92 Samsung Information Technology 176.44
93 ABB Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates 177.35
94 Ecobank Banking & Financial Services 177.48
95 MTN Media & Communications 178.09
96 Novartis Pharmaceuticals 178.39
97 Sasol Oil & Gas 179.70
98 Aga Khan Education, Government, IGO & NGO 179.76
99 Standard Bank Banking & Financial Services 181.31
100 Bolloré Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates 182.10

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 E m p l o y e r o f
was the Reward criteria (pay and benefits), Companies to watch out for who did not make our ranking
where Oil & Gas was perhaps unsurprisingly
dominant. This sector despite a difficult (companies that received a good score but not enough volume of responses to make our Top 100)
year is still perceived as the best payer and Arik Air
as offering the best perks. However, certain
sectors did dominate our ranking and these Astra Zeneca
were FMCG, Oil & Gas and ICT employers, Bamburi Cement
ahead of Financial Services and Professional
Services. BASF
Ultimately, it is not that surprising. Com- Bridge International Academies
panies in these sectors, such as Microsoft, Centum Investments
IBM, P&G, Heineken, Total and Shell for
example are considered to be ‘strong employ- Ethiopian Airlines
ers’, that is. they pay well, in general more FMC Technologies
than their competitors, and will have strong
human development programmes as well as FNB
good facilities and perks. Forte Oil
The winners of the awards were domi- Maersk Oil
nated by a handful of particularly strong
brands from FCMG, Oil & Gas and ICT. Mott MacDonald
Second, these sectors also contribute the Murray & Roberts
largest number of brands to the Top 100 list.
Both in terms of outright stars and strength Nissan
in depth, these sectors are clearly leading the Oceaneering
way when it comes to perception among the Safmarine
talent pool surveyed.
At the other end of the spectrum, other SAP
sectors were notable underperformers, with Seadrill
pharmaceutical companies struggling to
achieve exceptional ratings and agribusi- Stanbic
ness almost totally anonymous. There was TransOcean Deepwater Drilling
also little success to be found in financial De Beers
services outside of the big name banks. The
pharmaceuticals and agribusiness results are Subsea 7
particularly interesting, as both sectors are Tiger Brands
seeing an increased amount of activity from
a recruitment point of view. It would be
surprising if these two sectors didn’t perform
better next year.
What does the future hold?
Thinking ahead to 2016, the direction of the
study results take will be interesting. While
the continent-wide survey will be repeated,
regional drill-downs will also take place, al-
lowing further investigation of regional and
local brands in particular areas. In terms of
trends though, the expectation is that access
to the type of data provided by the study will
make EVP segmentation the next front in
the war for talent. It will be interesting to see
who is more successful in this, the regional
marks with natural specificity on their side,
or the multinationals with the war chests. Next year we
As Rupert Adcock, Founder and Managing anticipate the
Director of the Global Careers Company, pharmaceutical
clearly stated: “it is the lessons to be taken
forward from the Employer of Choice study and agribusiness
that will make the lasting impact on the sectors will
African talent landscape, as the best adapt
to get better and those who did not make it perform more
this time strive to catch up.”
From a sector point of view, expect to see
strongly.
agribusiness and pharmaceuticals shaken
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Aviation, Logistics & Shipping
Pharmaceuticals
Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates
Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates
Education, Government, IGO & NGO
Banking & Financial Services
Aviation, Logistics & Shipping
Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates
Banking & Financial Services
Oil & Gas
Oil & Gas
Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates
Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates
Construction, Heavy Goods Manufacturing & Aggregates
Oil & Gas
Aviation, Logistics & Shipping
Information Technology
Oil & Gas
Banking & Financial Services
Oil & Gas
Mining
Oil & Gas
FMCG & Retail
up by brands such as Syngenta and GSK
who are expanding their activities (and ap-
peal, through stronger EVPs) in Africa.
Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if the
appeal of the Oil & Gas brands can endure
another year like 2015, with limited recruit-
ment taking place in response to market
challenges. That said, a reasonably strong
showing by several mining brands is proof
that tough times will not necessarily pre-
cipitate a collapse of employer attractiveness.
If there are unknowns in some areas, one
prediction that can be made with a reason-
able degree of certainty is that FMCG will
once again top the charts. While Oil &
Gas leads the way on the number of brands
in the Top 100, and Professional Services
brands have the highest average position
of any sector (sectors providing more than
5 brands), FMCG comes a close second in
both measures. It is clear that the sector
currently leads the way in developing and
delivering EVPs which work in the African
context and inspire the African talent pool.
And why P&G topped our ranking and won
the top award at the Employer of Choice
Awards ceremony. n
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Number of people surveyed
13,242 54 African countries
captured within respondents
54
Male
70% Female
30%
Methodology
Created entirely from data gathered
in the Careers in Africa Employer of
Choice survey, the Careers in Africa
Employer of Choice Top 100 is a
truly democratic ranking faithfully
representing the views of African talent
across the continent and also working
or studying abroad. The process of
creating the Careers in Africa Employer
of Choice Study was as follows:
A detailed questionnaire was circulated
among the global African talent pool.
This study was completed by 13,242
African professionals, representing every
one of the continent’s 54 markets. 17%
of the respondents were based outside
Africa. Of the respondents, 70% are in full-
time employment and 30% are students
or graduates looking for work. There was
a similar 70-30 split between male and
female respondents.
The survey featured more than 90
questions and took on average 15 minutes
Advertorial_EMPLOYERS 0116.indd 65
Not currently in
employment 30%
In employment 70%
Age Groups:
20-29 yrs 28%
30-39 years 47%
40-49 years 19%
49+ years 6%
to complete. The first 15 questions were
personal, relating to the respondents’
own characteristics and the remaining
questions were qualitative.
These professionals provided their
views on 29 separate attraction drivers that
define a great employer. The attraction
drivers that were included spanned
a wide number of areas: reward and
benefits (differentiated into short-term
and long-term incentives), flexible work
arrangements, healthcare, training and
career development, the importance of an
organisation’s reputation or its commitment
to social responsibility, the strength of
its leadership and senior management,
the financial strengths of a company, the
culture and values of an organisation and a
company’s reputation (its brand image).
Having established a benchmark by
ranking the importance of all factors,
respondents proceeded to score 3
selected companies (from a curated list
of 500 of the continent’s top businesses)
respondent breakdown
Geographical breakdown
of the respondents
4%
North Africa
West Africa
42%
4%
Central Africa
East Africa
16%
17%
Southern Africa
Outside of Africa
17%
against these criteria. Respondents were
only given a choice of companies that
operated within their given country of
citizenship and then asked to rate three
companies from that list.
Employers’ ratings were calculated
using an average of scores, providing this
list of 100. A lower score is a better score.
Companies were given a score between 1
to 10 on each of the 29 attraction drivers
(one being an ‘essential’ driver and ten
being ‘non-essential’ or irrelevant), and
their total scores tallied up. As such the
best score a company could achieve would
be 29 and the worst score 290. To make
our top 100 you had to have a maximum
score of 182.
Following this ranking, the data
was made available to the employers
themselves to enable them to assess and
action feedback. The idea is not only to
rank the companies, but to provide data-
driven analysis so that companies can
better adapt their strategies.
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The Careers in Africa Employer of Choice Awards

Winners and Runners-up
Award Category Position Company
Employer of Choice 2015 Winner P&G
Employer of Choice 2015 Runner Up East African Breweries
Global Attractiveness Winner Unilever
Global Attractiveness Runner Up Shell
Local Attractiveness Winner Ethiopian Airlines
Local Attractiveness Runner Up Seadrill
Pan-African Attractiveness Winner Unilever
Jeanne DuPlessis (Brand Communications
Manager) and Sizo Ngcobo (Associate Pan-African Attractiveness Runner Up KPMG
Communications Manager) from P&G, winners of
Careers in Africa Employer of Choice 2015 awards, CSR Winner Safaricom
pictured with Global Career Company founders CSR Runner Up East African Breweries Ltd
Rupert Adcock (far left) and Sarah Roe (far right).
Development Winner McKinsey & Company

R
Development Runner Up P&G
espondents were invited to Leadership & Management Winner Safaricom
identify 3 companies they
would be interested in work- Leadership & Management Runner Up East African Breweries Ltd
ing for and to rate them ac- Reward Winner Total
cording to the 29 drivers. A greater
number of responses is indicative of Reward Runner Up P&G
strong brand awareness. Interestingly, Banking Winner FNB
strong awareness does not correlate with
Banking Runner Up J.P. Morgan
the strongest ratings. Here is the list
of the 20 companies that received the Construction, Heavy Manufacture & Infrast. Winner GE
most scores: Construction, Heavy Manufacturing & Infrast. Runner Up Nissan
1. African Development Bank Financial Services Winner Centum Investment
2. World Bank Group FMCG Winner P&G
3. Nestlé FMCG Runner Up East African Breweries
4. Schlumberger IGO Winner World Bank
5. Shell IGO Runner Up International Finance Corp.
6. Coca-Cola Information Technology Winner Microsoft
7. Nigeria LNG Information Technology Runner Up Cisco
8. MTN Aviation, Logistics & Shipping Winner Ethiopian Airlines
9. GE Aviation, Logistics & Shipping Runner Up Arik Air
10. Addax Petroleum Media & Communication Winner DSTV
11. Exxon Mobil Media & Communication Runner Up Vodafone
12. Chevron Mining Winner De Beers
13. ENI Mining Runner Up BHP Billiton
14. Unilever Oil & Gas Winner Total
15. PwC Oil & Gas Runner Up Shell
16. Tullow Oil Pharmaceutical Winner AstraZeneca
17. Citi Professional Services Winner McKinsey & Company
18. BP Professional Services Runner Up Accenture
19. KPMG Payments Technology Winner Visa
20. IBM Payments Technology Runner Up Mastercard

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