THE CONSULTING INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA

1. INTRODUCTION
Consulting is derived from the Latin word consultare which means
to discuss. A consultant is usually an expert or an experienced
professional in a specific field and has a wide knowledge of the
subject matter. By hiring a consultant, clients have access to deeper
levels of expertise than would be financially feasible for them to
retain in-house on a long-term basis.
2. INDUSTRY PLAYERS
Consulting firms in Nigeria range in size from:
Sole proprietorships consisting of a single consultant
Small businesses consisting of a small number of consultants.
Examples are Novatia Consulting and BusinessOnTop.
Mid- to large consulting firms. Examples are Workforce Group,
Quramo Advisory and Afrissance.
Multinational consulting corporations. Examples are McKinsey
and Company, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture,
Ernst and Young, KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and
Deloitte.
3. TYPES OF CONSULTING SERVICES
The consultancy industry is one of the most diverse markets within
the professional services industry, and, as such, wide spectrums of
types of consultant are found in the industry. Consulting services in
Nigeria consist of the following:
Strategy Consultants: The term Strategy Consultant is used
to describe consultants who operate at the highest level of the
consultancy market, with a focus on strategic topics like
corporate and organizational strategy, economic policy,
government policy and functional strategy. For this reason,
strategy consultants generally carry out work assigned by top
managers, like members of the C-suite, directors and senior
managers. Seeing that the nature of strategy consulting
differs from the other more implementation and operational
driven areas, strategy consultants generally have a different
profile than their peers. Their focus lies more on
quantitative/analytical skills, and their job description revolves
more around giving advice than overseeing implementation.
Operations Consultants: Operations consultants are
consultants who help clients improve the performance of their
operations. Consultancy activities in this segment vary from
advisory services to hands-on implementation support. Seeing
as the operations is often associated with the strategy and
technology side of a company, active operations consultants
regularly work side by side with experts from these domains.
Financial Advisory Consultants: Consultants who operate
in the Financial Advisory segment generally work on questions

that address financial capabilities, and, in many cases, also

the analytical capabilities within an organization.
Subsequently, the profiles of consultants active in this
segments can differ greatly, from M&A and corporate finance
advisors to risk management, tax, restructuring or real estate
consultant. Consultants specialized in forensic research and
support disputes also fall under the Financial Advisory
segment. The majority of financial consultants work for the
large combined accounting and consulting firms, or else for
niche advisory offices.
Human Resource Consultants: HR consultants help clients
with human capital questions within their organizations and /
or with improving the performance of the HR department.
Chief topics central to the job description of HR consultants
are, among others, organisational changes, change
management, terms of employment, learning & development,
talent management and retirement. HR consultants are also
brought in by organizations to help transform the business
culture within their organization, or transform their HR
department, which includes changes in the area of
organizational design, processes and systems, among others.
HR consulting forms, together with strategy consulting, the
two smallest segments of the consultancy industry, and the
number of consultants active in this domain is, therefore,
lower than those in other parts of the industry.
IT Consultants: Technology consultants, also known as IT,
ICT or digital consultants, focus on helping clients with the
development and application of Information Technology (IT)
within their organisation. IT consultants focus on transitions
(projects) in the ICT-landscape, contrary to regular ITemployees, who work on day-to-day IT operations (so-called
business as usual activities). The majority of ICT-consultants
work on implementation projects, for instance, extensive ERP
systems applications, where their role may vary from project
management to process management or system integration.
Within IT consulting, the fastest growing markets are digital,
data analytics (also known as data science), cyber security
and IT forensics.

4. GENERAL INDUSTRY DYNAMICS

The following environmental factors have impacted the growth of
the consulting practice in Nigeria:
Most businesses are not run properly in Nigeria; the owners
focus on profitability, but tend to play down strategy,
structure, competences, and even value creation
Little value is placed on intangibles like ideas, innovation,
creativity, insights, concepts, strategy formulation, but instead
tangibles like fixed assets are often given higher priorities

Sometimes, business owners prioritize the feel-good effect

over other longer-term imperatives
The environment does not demand that things be done
properly or competently

5. SPECIFIC INDUSTRY DYNAMICS

5.1.
FMCG:
The bigger players are mostly foreign-based and usually have
alliances with multinational consulting companies; the local players
largely see little need for consulting interventions.
5.2.
BANKING:
Consulting generally thrives in competitive industries like banking
where there is a need for the adoption of best practices and
efficiencies that are at par with, or even above peers. There is also
demand for competency-based interventions because of the fierce
struggle for talent.
5.3.
POWER AND ENERGY:
While there have been engagements in this sector, strategy
consulting interventions remain mostly instigated by regulatory
requirements. The bid to formulate strategies to overcome their
energy requirement challenges takes them into the domain of
subject matter experts like global energy providers.
5.4.
OIL & GAS:
Little strategy-related consulting is done in this sector; instead they
usually hire talents from multinational consulting firms. Also, there is
the requirement for technically industry-related expertise for their
strategies and implementation
5.5.
PUBLIC SECTOR:
Some consulting firms in Nigeria have built enormous capabilities in
this sector but have had to cut back on their investments there as it
has surpassed the Governments willingness to create public value.
Sustainability in this sector is challenged by the transient nature of
its leadership and the consequent changes that comes with it
sometimes a new leadership would do a 360-degree reversal on all
the transformative work that was done by the predecessor. Also this
sector has an erratic budget finance cycle. However, consulting
firms have been partnering with a good number of government
institutions and have been able to help create significant
transformations.
5.6.
INSURANCE:
This is a legacy subsector, shaped decades ago and still driven by
agency networks. Also theres a wide strategy awareness gap

among the business leaders, and absence of thought leadership in

the sector.
5.7.
CAPITAL MARKETS:
Their strategies are basically built on raw market intelligence. Where
required, investment-consulting capabilities are often imported.
6. CONCLUSION
The consulting industry in Nigeria is growing, in line with the
advances in technology, development of human capital and influx of
Foreign Direct Investment being experienced in the country. Despite
the teething problems within specific industries, it continues to
contribute significantly to Nigerias GDP and to the growth and
development of businesses and governments in Nigeria.