Africa wants expatriates

If you have skills and experience and are willing to travel, Africa is the place to go. The continent has one of the fastest economic growth rates and highest returns on investment in the world, and is seen as a growth opportunity not just by developed market companies and banks but increasingly by emerging markets financial institutions.

A study by Ernst & Young calculates that new foreign direct investment will reach $150bn in four years' time and that over 350,000 jobs will be created in 2015. In Africa's boom countries like Nigeria and Ghana the banking sector is growing at double digit rates. What is needed is talent and experience, which is why foreign institutions are sending more employees to the continent and local ones are enticing the African diaspora back.

The World Bank estimates that already $4bn a year is being spent on recruiting and paying 100,000 expatriates in Africa. According to the recent E&Y global mobility survey there will be a 75% increase in the number of expatriates working in Africa between now and 2014, a rate of growth superior to Brazil's (71%) and second only to India's (80%). "Multinationals in the banking sector and others are sending their staff to Africa to grow their international operations," says Ray Harraway, a director for tax at E&Y. "Expatriates are very much part of the business strategies of companies seeking to expand."

The "repats" phenomenon is also growing, as Africans who had left home to work abroad are being lured back by higher wages, better career prospects and the chance to be a significant player in their countries' economic renaissance. The thousands of job cuts announced in the last few weeks by big Western banks are expected to turn the trickle of African repats into a steady flow.

"Expatriates will always be important to Africa because of their international experience and institutions are now looking more and more at the African diaspora," says Walter Ankrah, head of African financial services at executive search firm New Millennium Group.

"Africa will feature more in many banks' plans going forward, and financial institutions want people who can hit the ground running and deliver results quickly. Now with the flux in developed financial markets I think we are moving towards seeing bigger names who have an African heritage or background willing to consider moving into the African financial services space."