The international division of specialist recruiter Change Recruitment Group is making strides into Africa, having generated 61 new vacancies and 12 new clients during a recent trip to the region by Change staff.

With offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Change makes placements abroad in a variety of locations, from Asia to North America.

Chief executive Suzanne Ramsay told Recruiter: “In terms of our whole strategy, 40-50% of our net fee income comes from international accounts.”

China and Scandinavian countries are currently investing heavily in Africa and, according to chief operations officer Laura Drysdale: “Africa is viewed by all of our clients as one of their major growth markets in the next 10 years.” However, the firm’s first involvement there stemmed from “an influx of African candidates coming on to our database. Historically, we were placing African candidates into Western locations”, Drysdale said.

“But now, given the strong candidate base we had in Africa, it was decided to explore the client side, and the research and development proved fruitful,” she told Recruiter. “We realised there was a severe skills shortage, for qualified accountants.”

Vacancies picked up by Change International through the visits to Gabarone, Johannesburg and Nairobi were in accountancy, HR and sales.

Drysdale said the visits increased clients’ confidence in Change’s delivery potential. She added: “They know that we will be much more able to select suitable candidates, discuss the move with them from both a career and lifestyle perspective, and advise them on the pros and cons of the move.”