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Why Africa Needs More Project Managers
Kwei Akuete
August 30, 2011
Over the past 30 years, the discipline of project management in
the fields of information technology, construction, and
engineering has become even more important as projects have
become more complex and more expensive. As a result, the demand
for and the corresponding pool of qualified project managers has
also increased.
The Project Management Institute® in its 2010 annual report
stated that the number of certified project managers was
approximately 413,000. Many project managers are in the North
American and Asia Pacific regions, respectively. The latter grew
by more than 58,000 project management professionals from 2004
to 2007; much of this was fueled by China’s growing economy.
Latin America trails in the number of project managers after the
European/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region. Though EMEA has a
higher number of project managers than Latin America, the vast
majority are from Europe and the Middle East not Sub-Saharan
Africa. Primarily, this is due to the increased number of
technology initiatives, large infrastructure projects, and a
greater project management training providers over the past 20
years in these regions.
Despite the discovery of oil in Ghana; a growing middle class in
Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, respectively; the birth of a new
country in Southern Sudan; and new infrastructure investment
projects in a host of African countries, there does not seem to
be a strong push to develop project management capabilities
among African students and professionals to participate in these
developments. Therefore, the slow increase in the number African
project managers is particularly worrisome.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
The positive developments mentioned above herald the promise of
new jobs for white collar and blue collar professionals in
Africa. While blue collar workers benefit greatly - particularly
in the construction field of late - white collar workers lose
out in most fields as the African white collar jobs are heavily
offset by their foreign counterparts.
These foreign professionals are
usually consultants who work on a project for a period of time
and then move on to another project, usually in another city or
country. This tendency creates a situation in which there is
insufficient knowledge transfer of project management
principles.
To better understand this imbalance, it may help to review some
contributing factors noted by the World Bank and UNICEF, most
notably:
1. Access to primary education and quality teaching - though
improving in most African countries - continues to be a
considerable challenge.
2. The cost of secondary and university education is out of
reach for a majority of African students; and
3. Poor health, particularly resulting from HIV/AIDS, prevent
students from attending school regularly, if at all, because
they or a relative suffers from HIV/AIDS who requires their
care.
However, if one overcomes these formidable challenges, there are
still others, namely:
• Scholarships are few and far between limiting access to a
small, but growing middle class who can accord to pay.
• Very good, affordable undergraduate institutions are few in
number to sufficiently educate and prepare students for white
collar jobs.
• The economies of most African economies are not diverse enough
to absorb new graduates. This is exacerbated when there is a
significant youth population as is the case is Kenya and
Nigeria, for example.
• Only one African university – the University of Pretoria,
South Africa - offers a formal project management program at the
graduate level.
• There appears to be a lack of awareness about the project
management field by government officials, professionals and
students.
• There are very few African-owned project management firms.
If the situation persists, there will continue to be a revolving
door of external consultants. Furthermore, the lack of
institutionalized PM knowledge will lead to a host of negative
outcomes such as:
• Continued ad hoc practices due
to a lack of institutionalized knowledge
• Poor communication among stakeholders
• Lack of transparency and accountability
• Missed deadlines
• Blown budgets
Hope Revisited
To reverse the current situation, much needs to be done by all
sectors of African society. However, much of the heavy lifting
falls to African governments which inherently have the
responsibility to appropriately fund secondary and higher
education and improve state infrastructures. Once a firm
foundation is in place, more universities will be able to
educate the next generation of project managers. This will open
the door to multiple benefits that African countries may realize
including:
• Enhanced reputations for universities that invest in new
and/or improved programs
• More employment opportunities for students in project
management
• Well-trained, experienced, and certified project management
professionals
• Improved internal capacity to launch and manage domestic
projects
• Greater awareness and use of resources, tools, and information
• Greater transparency and accountability leading to reduced
costs, redundant systems, and rework
• Better trained and informed civil servants for better contract
oversight
These benefits will go a long way
toward developing, retaining, and fostering a professional
culture built on sound project management principles in Africa.
About the Author
Kwei Akuete, PMP, is a management consultant with Vision 1
Consulting (www.vision1consulting.net) with 13 years of
professional experience. His areas of expertise are in project
management and process improvement. He has also conducted
risk/issue management, policy and gap analysis, organizational
policy development, and implementation for several U.S. Federal
agencies and private-sector clients. He is proud graduate of
Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy
and the University of Michigan, Ford School of Public Policy. He
can be reached at
pkakuete@gmail.com.
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