Hi everyone –

Given the success and popularity of our America Renewed theme, and our open-sourced approach to fielding teams and live-blogging the entire study, we are launching a new theme.

Africa Rising is a new theme in which we will be fielding teams of consultants across Sub-Saharan Africa to solve significant strategy, operations and organizational issues for some of the continents most inspiring enterprises.

Africa is tomorrow’s Asia, and is currently growing faster than Asia, with 7 of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies hailing from the continent. We will help the leaders of Africa shape that growth agenda.

We expect to complete the following studies next year, with the first team commencing in January 2015, and each study lasting approximately 3 months:

1. Distribution and pricing strategy for a national diary company
2. Corporate strategy for a national agricultural producer
3. Growth and profit strategy for a retailer competing with Walmart
4. Operational improvement and implementation plan for a state-owned mining company

The studies will follow the same format as the US retail banking market entry strategy study, but with some improvements:

1. Teams will be based on-site operating as a standard engagement team under the direction of Firmsconsulting partners.
2. We will be using a more interactive and extensive live-blogging format.
3. The team will be primarily based out of Maude Street in Sandton, South Africa but will be expected to work on location as needed at the client’s facilities.
4. The engagements are spread across a variety of countries, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Angola and Nigeria.
5. Unlike the first study, we will be fielding larger support teams to help with the research and data gathering.

Why are we telling you this so early? The main reason is to give you time to prepare your application should you want to apply. We will shortly post the full details about the theme, application process and documents required. Therefore, do not email us your applications just yet.

Here are some guidelines to help you prepare your applications:

1. We are actively seeking students from both state universities and prestige schools like the Ivy Leagues. We are aiming for a 50/50 balance along with minorities.
2. Applications will open in October 2015. Although there is no deadline, we select interns on a rolling basis so the earlier you apply, the more positions will be available.
3. The selection process will begin in December to field the first team in April, second team for July and final team for October. The team for January has already been selected.
4. The program is open to graduates of all schools from around the world.
5. Although not a mandatory requirement, it would be useful to speak Portuguese (Mozambique & Angola), Dutch or the ability to understand Afrikaans (Namibia & South Africa), and English, German (Namibia) or Mandarin (Angola).
6. Applicants should be in possession of a valid passport.
7. You will be expected to submit a very short essay explaining how you will use this training to make an impact in the world. Since there is no cover letter required, this essay and your resume will play a major role in determining if you are selected for interviews.

Note, that the America Renewed theme and studies will continue next year and run in parallel to the Africa Rising theme. We will post more details for the America Renewed internships shortly.

If you were planning your internships for next year, and want to work on a consulting study where you will shape critical policy decisions, we would urge you start preparing your application documents.

Image by Helmut Schwarzer under cc.