Africa: ‘my last posting for my career’
How we made it in Africa talks to James Deiotte, Ernst & Young's new Africa Tax Leader, on his decision to relocate to Africa.
As Africa’s economy gains momentum, more and more professionals are moving to the continent to tap into the opportunities. James Deiotte, known as Jim amongst colleagues and friends, is the new Ernst & Young Africa Tax Leader and is one of those people. Originally from the US, Deiotte and his wife and daughter relocated to Johannesburg less than two months ago. The decision to move continents was made almost instantly and something Deiotte refers to as a “no-brainer”.
It was Mother’s Day weekend in early May when Deiotte was offered the chance to take up the position in Africa, a continent he had never visited before. Four days later, he and his wife arrived in South Africa to see what they were getting themselves into. “I think it was close to 10 days that we spent in Johannesburg and we just absolutely fell in love with the city, the community and the people.”
This is not the first time that Deiotte has moved with his family to a foreign country for work purposes. Having spent four years in Warsaw, Poland, he is no stranger to emerging himself in a foreign culture. However, Africa, with its 54 very different countries and many diverse cultures, is incomparable. Yet Deiotte is nothing less than excited to be in the continent.
“This is going to be my last posting for my career which is a good thing and it’s an opportunity to be part of, and work with, this tremendous, young, talented group of professionals and colleagues in the business community,” Deiotte told How we made it in Africa on the sidelines of the recent Ernst & Young Africa Tax Conference, held outside Hermanus, South Africa.
Deiotte sought advice from his connections from around the world before taking the position in Africa. “We reached out to them the day we found out and immediately we were getting very positive responses about Africa and over and over again it was about the [African] people, saying, ‘you are going to just love these people, they are great, they have a tremendous energy’.”
“We did a good job of making sure we understood what we were walking into, both from a personal as well as a business point of view ... I do think that there is just so much interest in a very positive way taking place in Africa,” continued Deiotte. “I have said it and I will continue to say it, it really is about the people.”
Deiotte said he has watched companies make decisions on where to – and where not to – invest and what it often comes down to is the workforce, their energy, work ethic and what motivates them. “I feel that is what is taking place here right now, that everybody is just looking at this place with great earnest and trying to make their decisions on where to enter this vast continent ... I think that is becoming the more interesting question; its where to enter, continent wise, not a matter of ‘if’. I think everybody is lining up to come here.”
“In terms of the sophistication and capabilities of people, I see virtually no differences,” added Deiotte. “I see them as world-class capable professionals in any way that you would measure it.”
However, one thing that is difficult with conducting business in Africa is the limits in infrastructure. “Even with a landline we experience cut-offs and these are some of the things one wouldn’t expect in a city like Johannesburg with the type of buildings and the way it conducts business overall. But they are little things that get in the way and make it difficult. Lagos is several steps even more difficult. Again, our offices need to have back up generation capable of maintaining adequate supplies of power to operate our computer and IT systems. So these are the areas that I think needs considerable improvement to get up to a world class level.”
However, Deiotte is amazed at how Africans don’t let the infrastructure issues prevent them from getting on with business. “If we had the same conditions in the United States there would probably be more excuses laid on the infrastructure as to why they didn’t perform as quickly. Here, people bite their tongues and they somehow manage through it ... So it’s interesting for me to watch and observe that. It doesn’t block them, it doesn’t stop them. It may frustrate them but even the frustration level is not shown. This is just what they deal with and they move on with it.”
While there are a few things that Deiotte has struggled to get used to – such as driving on the left-hand side of the road, dealing with rain spiders in the house, and being awoken by the soul-splitting sound of South Africa’s hadeda birds in his garden – the real challenge is getting used to South Africa’s (and Africa’s) multitude of languages and accents. “We were told it would be easier in South Africa than Poland because everyone here speaks English. But South African English took me by surprise because there is a mix of languages in one sentence ... But I am now more comfortable with it.”
Deiotte has also noticed some of the cultural differences in conducting business, in particular the speed of decision making, which is typically faster in the US. “When I look at the decision making process here, there is more deliberation, there is more discussion, there is more consensus building involved around certain decisions that are made by people within their day-to-day course of business. Neither is wrong, neither is better than the other, it’s just a different approach,” he said.
So what advice does Deiotte have for others who are interested in moving their life and career to Africa? “Reach out to your friends and colleagues, reach out to me. I would be happy to provide very positive feedback and thoughts on how to best prepare yourself for the African experience ... It’s only been a short number of weeks since we have arrived here but already we are feeling very comfortable within our communities ... We found that the transition has been remarkably easy but if [you] have any questions then just reach out and I think [you] will get something very consistent to what we had, which was that it is all about the people.”