Accenture, a global management consulting and professional services firm that provides strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations services is leaving Nigeria in April.
The company is now transitioning into Veraki, a Nigerian company and by next week the name Accenture will disappear from the lexicon in the industry in Nigeria just like Diamond Bank which is being absorbed by Access Bank on April 1.
Already some of staff of the company have left or are being poached by other consulting companies because of Accenture’s decision to leave Nigeria.
But Segun Olalandu, marketing and communications officer of Accenture, said the company is not leaving the country but that it is only transitioning into Veraki, a local entity.
According to Olalandu, “As a professional services company, Accenture regularly reviews its operations, offerings, skills and capabilities to ensure it is best positioned to meet our clients’ needs.”
Following a review of the industry and client portfolios, he said that “services to Accenture clients in Nigeria will be delivered through a local Nigerian entity which will be formed independent of Accenture.
“We are not selling the business. However, we are transitioning some existing services for clients to a newly formed Nigerian entity that will be led by current and former Accenture employees.
“Most of the employees of Accenture in Nigeria will have roles in the new entity. Accenture will provide appropriate support to all employees in Nigeria during the transition.
Accenture’s Nigerian practice began in 1985, with fewer than 10 employees engaged primarily in general consulting assignments. Over the past 34 years, it grew significantly and now boasts of a core team of over 100 professionals across its consulting and enterprise workforces, active mainly in the oil and gas, financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications and public sectors of the economy.
Accenture brings deep industry knowledge and expertise to bear in consulting, technology, business process outsourcing and project management. Its local service groups are supported by a global network of talent spanning all industry sectors, with more than 319,000 people combining strategic acumen and strong execution capabilities to help its clients identify new opportunities and drive process improvements.
Accenture has played a major role in the development of Nigeria’s financial services industry, in particular commercial and merchant banking. It has worked with most of the major Nigerian banks and at present hold a dominant position in the consulting market in that sector.
The services it provides to its Nigerian clients typically include strategic planning, business operations restructuring, profit improvement studies, organization development, human resources management improvement and information technology planning. More recently, it has demonstrated successes in business process re-engineering.
“After 30 years in the Nigerian market, Accenture applies global resources and intellectual capital in a distinctively African way, the company said on its website fact sheet by Olaniyi Yusuf, country managing director.