Three forces of historic proportions are driving change in Africa: climate change, the global technology revolution and, above all, demographic change. As a result of the latter, Africa is now the main repository of the world’s youth. At Genesis we are dedicated to the future of the 300 million young people who live here: their economic prospects, and their health, education, psychological resilience and social cohesion. Their future requires building strong economies, markets that deliver value, and effective institutions underpinned by civic pride.
The three forces create tremendous opportunities – for countries, communities and companies. Rooted in Africa, we deploy an increasingly global team to identify and realise these opportunities. Our approach combines technical capability in pivotal disciplines and robust problem-solving with a deep understanding of context.
Our style of working is distinctive. We work collaboratively and with rigour. We like our solutions to have a creative, practical bent. We nurture in our staff the courage to speak truth to power. We aim to leave the individuals and institutions with whom we work stronger and more confident than they were before meeting us. We don’t pretend to have a lock on wisdom, but there is strength in our humility. We stay the course.
Africa's Youth
Africa is experiencing an unprecedented youth wave. Today, Africa has twice as many 15-year-olds as 35-year-olds. This ratio is likely to increase. From 193 million young people aged 15-24 in 2015, the number will grow to 295 million by 2035, and to 362 million by 2050.
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Behavioural solutions
Genesis recognises that certain problems in commerce and development demand an expert understanding of human behaviour. Moreover, the quality of traditional solutions can often be dramatically improved by incorporating behavioural expertise. Behavioural Solutions at Genesis combines expertise in economics, psychology, anthropology and sociology to unlock value.
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Climate and disaster risk financing
We work with governments, donors and private businesses to increase the flows of climate finance from higher to lower income countries, in fostering the role of the private sector in climate finance and in better preparedness of societies to address the climate change emergency proactively and adequately.
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Competition and regulatory economics
As the leading provider of competition and regulatory economics services in Africa, Genesis has an unmatched breadth and depth of skills and experience. Blue-chip companies, regulators and competition authorities across Africa routinely rely on us for expert economics advice and input.
We have worked on most major competition and regulatory matters in South Africa and we have been involved in key matters across multiple other African countries including Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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Digital economy
Our digital economy team at Genesis focuses on technology innovation and the opportunities it provides for improving the development potential of African nations. Our work is focused on supporting African governments, their development partners and private firms in forging new tech-enabled pathways to inclusive growth.
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Economic opportunity
Expanding access to economic opportunity is essential for improving lives and livelihoods, generating jobs and creating wealth. The private sector plays a leading role in delivering economic growth and is increasingly expected to do so in a way that is inclusive and sustainable.
There are a number of ways in which businesses, foundations, governments and development organisations work to support private sector development. These include developing inclusive market systems; supporting the creation of quality jobs; developing value chains and access to markets for businesses; development of the financial sector and supporting access to finance; MSME development; capital markets development; and overall business enabling environment.
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Financial services strategy
Our Financial Services team has completed more than 600 projects across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East since 2001. We work with leading financial institutions to address their challenges, unlock value for their stakeholders and shape the future of the industry.
Our team understands the evolving technology and market structures, economics and regulatory trends across all segments of the financial services sector. Our distinct approach is characterised by deep specialisation and rigorous analysis based on a strong economics foundation.
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Health
We work with our clients to develop solutions aimed at improving the health of populations throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Our region faces the challenges of the quadruple burden of disease, which includes both communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as violence and injury.
Coupled with this are relatively weak health systems, heavy reliance on donor funding and inequitable public and private sectors. Within this context, we provide experts with decades of experience in the design, implementation, costing and evaluation of health programmes, and strengthening of sustainable health systems.
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Human development
We work with governments and private businesses to build human capital by improving education and health outcomes, ensuring a decent standard of living for all. Our focus sectors are health, education, social protection and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene).
Our core areas of expertise are financing (public finance management, sector financing and expenditure performance, private sector investment), mixed service delivery systems (private and public sector) and adaptive social service systems.
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Monitoring, evaluation and learning
We work to maximise the social and economic impact of development efforts. As a trusted provider of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) services we combine our deeply rooted understanding of the African context with our extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methods to assess progress, measure value creation, and facilitate internal and external learning.
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Photographer, Johnny Miller
Shared value and impact
A revolution is taking place in business. In the Shared Value and Impact practice our purpose is to reshape capitalism to serve the world. We put flourishing societies and ecosystems at the centre of the economy, not as afterthoughts.
We regard the company as the most powerful economic engine ever invented - and when companies start to think beyond narrow shareholder value to the creation of impact, they can also become potent drivers of development, social progress, inclusion and sustainability.
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Genesis in the news
NEWS & INSIGHTS
Featured
Airbnb guests contributed billions to SA economy in 2020
In 2020, a ‘crisis year’ for tourism in South Africa, travel on Airbnb contributed more than R8 billion to the economy, supporting around 21,500 jobs according to a new report from independent consultancy Genesis Analytics, commissioned by Airbnb.
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ChromeSA says imposition of export tax would be high risk
The imposition of a tax on the export of chrome ore would be high risk and the gain from such an intervention would likely be eroded fairly quickly by the high cost of electricity, which is the real problem.
Chrome SA’s Alistair McAdam and Paul Anderson of Genesis Analytics highlighted this summary when they spoke to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview on Monday. Read here
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BPO sector can now tap into global online marketplace
A new global online marketplace is available to service the global business services (GBS) sector, also known as business process outsourcing (BPO).
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Excessive pricing in a crisis: Should competition authorities step in?
The recent civil unrest created unfortunate scenes of consumers queuing for basic foods. In such a crisis, our competition authorities are mindful that suppliers may be able to take advantage of vulnerable consumers by charging higher prices, despite the underlying costs not changing to the same extent.
Our purpose is to unlock value in Africa. We use our analytical capabilities to improve decision-making and, through better decisions, to unlock substantial value for our clients and society. While we are the largest economics-based consulting firm in Africa, we use a large number of techniques and approaches to achieve clarity for decision-makers.
We work across various domains.
Early specialisations were competition and regulatory economics, and then financial services strategy.
Study on South Africa State-Owned Enterprises Contribution to Economic Transformation and Inclusive Growth
Genesis worked with the National Planning Commission, a nucleus government advisory agency, to assess state-owned enterprises' performance and contribution to achieving the National Development Plan’s Vision 2030 of economic transformation and inclusive growth.
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Opportunity for cloud banking in Africa
Genesis Analytics and Orange Business Services (OBS), with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, published a research report on Cloud Banking in Africa: The Regulatory Opportunity, which explores the potential for cloud computing to reduce the cost of technology for banks.
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Expert economic evidence in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s acquisition of Link Market Services
Genesis was appointed by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to provide an expert economic report and testimony in the JSE’s acquisition of share registry business Link Market Services South Africa (Link SA).
Our goal is to recruit and build an exceptional cadre of professionals who are passionate about unlocking value and finding solutions. Successful candidates are placed into a niche practice area that best suits their skill set, interests and personal capability. We recruit at both a graduate (honours/masters) and experienced hire level.
