About ECIAfrica
Vision
To play a leading role in advancing human prosperity in Africa.
Mission
To assist our clients (business and governments) in Africa in meeting their transformation and developmental goals.
Identity
ECIAfrica's mission and vision are built around our colours - brown, green, and blue - and the ECIAfrica logo, which present the colours across the African continent, with brown at the base and blue at the top.
Brown stands for Foundations - the bedrock experience borne of more than 250 successful projects in 18 African countries. Our work cultivates the organic material of development: the social, economic and political roots from which equity and prosperity can grow.
Green stands for Results - the fruit of the work we deliver to our clients and their beneficiaries, and the tangible difference we make in people's lives.
Blue stands for Aspirations - our goals as a company that values learning and continuous improvement, and the vision that our clients and beneficiaries hold for their own future.
By combining these colours in our logo - building from earth brown to sky blue in one compact graphic - we hope to convey the comprehensive approach we take to becoming the best economic and management development company delivering world-class, innovative solutions.
Who We Are
Download the Corporate Profile (PDF 959kb)-
ECIAfrica Consulting (Pty) Ltd. is an economic development consultancy based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Established in 1994, ECIAfrica has designed and implemented assignments throughout Africa for a variety of clients including government institutions, non-governmental organisations and private sector organizations such as the World Bank Group, the US Agency for International Development, the UK Department for International Development, and a host of government organizations in Southern Africa.
ECIAfrica is a subsidiary of DAI, a leading international development consultancy based in Washington, DC. DAI has offices in London, Palestine, Pakistan, Jordan and Mexico, employing more than 2,500 staff members. Initially formed in 1994 through a joint venture between DAI and South African development experts, ECIAfrica remains a strategic partner of DAI with deep corporate ties, including overlapping history, personnel, and mission. ECIAfrica benefits from seamless cooperation with DAI and access to the company's global network of resources, technical expertise, and project management systems.ECIAfrica employs 75 African experts who work in our home office and on long-term projects. Our team members provide solutions that are informed by their deep understanding of the political, social, and economic dynamics of the countries in which we work.
ECIAfrica takes a multi-sectoral approach to economic and management development consulting. We understand that sustainable economic development requires the public and private sectors to work together. Reflecting this approach, our specialist staff are organised within three primary technical areas:
- ■ Agribusiness and Rural Development;
- ■ Enterprise Development;
- ■ Public Administration.
-
Each sector enriches the other’s work in research, project design, assessment, policy development, market analysis, institutional capacity building, and product development.
The ECIAfrica team works together across sectors to ensure a holistic approach to specific assignments. Development finance and enterprise development overlap with agriculture, rural development, and public sector infrastructure and service delivery, and all sectors of the economy – public and private – are affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This flexibility allows the ECIAfrica team to develop tailored solutions for its clients.
History
ECIAfrica was originally incorporated under the name of Ebony Development Alternatives (Pty) Ltd. in March 1994. This name was chosen to reflect the goodwill and reputations of the two founding corporate partners: Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) and Ebony Financial Services (Pty) Ltd (EFS). In December 1997, the Directors voted to change the name to Ebony Consulting International (Pty) Ltd or "ECI". After EFS left the partnership, a further name change was made in May 2003, to ECIAfrica Consulting (Pty) Ltd., to reflect the company's success in expanding regionally and to help eliminate any confusion of identity with earlier partners.
Immediately following South Africa’s democratic transition, the company focused on serving microfinance institutions and programmes, undertaking one- to three-month–long consulting projects. In 1998, ECI broadened its offerings to include business linkages for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) and began implementing long-term, multi-year projects on behalf of international donors. Since 2005, ECIAfrica has been providing extensive support to the South African government to clear challenges that restrict the roll out of infrastructure - thus improving service delivery.
Today, ECIAfrica draws on its history and breadth of experience in private and public sector-led solutions to advance human prosperity.
Also see The First 40 Years: A History of DAI, an online book on the history of DAI that was published in celebration of DAI's 40th Anniversary in 2010.
