Deloitte to focus on agribusiness, mining in Ethiopia

By Bruh Yihunbelay  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Deloitte Consulting Plc, a global professional services firm, which official opened its office here partnering with a local accountancy and advisory firm, HST, said that it will focus on consulting and developing agribusiness, mining and financial sectors in Ethiopia,Sammy Onyango, CEO for Deloitte East Africa, told reporters during a press conference held at Sheraton Addis on Wednesday that the reason why the company decided to open its office here is that Ethiopia’s capable human capital and fast economic growth   are components that cannot be ignored by anybody in the world.The new entity, Deloitte Consulting Plc, was granted an investment permit in January 2012 and was established with a registered capital of 1.1 million birr. It plans to give management consultancy, tax advisory, and senior management training services to both public and private sectors.The partner of Deloitte, HST Consulting Plc, is a company owned by certified accountants: Haileluel Tamiru, Solomon Gizaw, and Tekeste Gebru.“This means we have a pool of local experts that can solve any problem in any industry area, leveraging off global expertise,” Sammy told reporters.On his part, the global chairman of Deloitte, Stephen Almond, said that Ethiopia is in the early stage of transition from subsistence farming economy to commercialization and it is an exciting time for Ethiopia and for his company.Solomon Gizaw of HST said during the briefing that as Ethiopia is on the road to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), this partnership will help to easily mobilize global resources and support local businesses, especially the small and medium enterprises to be globally competitive.At the moment, Venmyn Deloitte is already involved in techno-economic advice on a potash deposit in the Danakil Depression in Northern Ethiopia after Deloitte acquired 100 percent of South African-based mining consultancy firm Venmyn Rand last year and named it Venmyn Deloitte.With its entry in Ethiopia and recent office openings in South Sudan and Libya, Deloitte has a presence in 34 African countries.Founded in 1845, by William Welch Deloitte in London, the company, which is now headquartered in New York, employs around 200,000 in more than 150 countries. Like its global competitors, Pricewaterhouse Coopers(PwC), Ernst & Young and KPMG, it provides audit, tax, enterprise risk, and financial advisory consultancy and services, recording a revenue of USD 31.3 billion in 2012. This ranked the consulting firm second after Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), which registered a USD 31.5 billion in revenue in the same year.Source: thereporterethiopia.com