News Release

Africa emerges as leading career destination

May 2011

• 20% increase in the number of roles and companies recruiting for Africa in Q1 2011
• 35% of respondents from the African Diaspora looking to move back home in 2011

With the global competitive landscape changing dramatically, Africa is now emerging as a leading employment centre location. Many firms operating across Africa are recruiting aggressively and the African job market in 2011 is looking robust with a significant increase in the number of jobs compared with the same time

last year.

Global Career Company, a leading London–based international recruitment consultancy best known for the Careers in Africa initiative, has reported a 20% increase in the number of roles and companies recruiting for Africa in Q1 2011 when contrasted

with similar data from the beginning of 2010. Demand for highly skilled professionals with a background in engineering, pharmaceuticals, mining, technology and manufacturing continues to be strong. Rupert Adcock, Managing Director of Global Career Company observes, ‘The African Renaissance is firmly afoot as displayed by the high economic growth across the continent. We have increased our client portfolio exponentially as companies seek talented graduates and professionals with the skills and expertise to enable them take advantage of these growth opportunities.’

The African Diaspora have taken note of this trend are voting with their feet. A

recent survey conducted by the Careers in Africa team reveals that 35% of respondents were looking to move back home in 2011 and a further 29% were looking to move within one to two years. When asked about the key drivers for looking to work in Africa, ‘opportunities to fast track my career’ was the leading response. ‘Africa’s growing economy’ was ranked second whilst ‘returning home to family’ and ‘the ability to apply international knowledge to local markets’ came joint third. Incidentally, ‘financial incentives’ and ‘giving back’ were ranked last.

The Careers in Africa Recruitment Summit hosted in London, the world’s largest African recruitment event, has had a record number of applications from candidates looking to return to Africa and start building their careers in what has proved to be the most resilient of regions during the global financial crisis. Rupert continues, ‘Careers in Africa continues to grow at an astonishing rate, we now have over 180,000 graduates and professionals in our global database, our website statistics are at an all time high with over 200,000 visits and over 1,000,000 page views per month.’ Participation at the Careers in Africa Recruitment Summit has been confirmed by leading employers from across Africa and there is a good mix of multinationals and African businesses. Barclays, Coca Cola Sabco, Diageo, GE, GlaxoSmithKline, Heineken, Henkel, Lafarge, Safal, Standard Chartered, Total, Unilever and Vale will be present. This list continues to grow.

The next Careers in Africa Recruitment Summit will be taking place on 13 – 15 May 2011. For more information please visit www.careersinafrica.com.