DFID selects McKinsey to help deliver 'Invest Africa' programme
The Department for International Development (DFID) has selected McKinsey& Company to help deliver its 'Invest Africa' programme. The consultancy will provide strategic insights to the programme from its London office, and with support where needed from its African locales.
DFID is a UK Government department responsible for administering overseas aid. Headed by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development, the goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty.”
Like any other arm of the UK Government, DFID has been regularly looking to the consulting world for expertise when it comes to advancing its projects. In 2019, for example, it awarded a £19.5 million role to Education Development Trust, a non-profit advisory firm based in Reading. The contract sees the entity provide technical assistance an international education programme, which is aimed at improving the quality, equity, efficiency of delivery, monitoring and evaluation, and financing of general education in Ethiopia.
Now, following a competitive tender process, DFID has handed another contract worth £70 million to McKinsey & Company. The work will see the global strategy giant support DFID with delivering its 'Invest Africa' Programme, which is due to run for the next seven years.
Invest Africa aims to contribute towards the economic transformation needed in Africa to create more and better jobs and to set countries on a trajectory out of poverty. Africa has eight of the world’s 15 fastest growing economies and there is huge demand on the continent for clean, sustainable and innovative investment. The initiative is part of a Government drive to leverage the UK’s expertise and innovation to help meet growing demand for investment across the continent.
McKinsey has been tapped to provide strategic insights to the programme, supporting with research and investment assessments, as well as supporting overall prgramme management. The firm is staffing the project from its London office, with support provided from its seven offices in Africa, where needed.
Elsewhere, the drive for investment has already seen the DFID broker £6.5 billion of commercial deals signed by British companies to deliver jobs, growth and investment across the UK and Africa, with deals worth billions more expected to be made. They are expected to mobilise billions of pounds in private sector investment for Africa, marking a new era of trade between the UK and Africa.
