Scaling up in Africa: 6 ways EORs can help (that you didn’t already know about)
- Last updated: October 16, 2024
So, it’s time for your company to go big!
Scaling your business in a country you know is already a daring venture, filled with bureaucratic demands and legislative complexities…Now imagine having to navigate these issues when you are overseas, in a foreign African country where you are unfamiliar with all proceedings, the local culture and bureaucracy.
For many companies, this is a recipe for disaster, and very often, a sure way to fail.
But this needn’t be the case.
Employers of Record (EOR) like Africa HR Solutions provide some potent solutions to the problems posed by scaling and expansion in an African country. Here are some of the ways an EOR can help make your scaling projects a success:
1. Global expansion
The world is your own personal oyster with an EOR.
Where entity setups, permits, and other bureaucratic demands eat up your time and resources (and are not always guaranteed to work out), EORs offer something akin to an all-access pass to scaling and expansion in a foreign country.
Because an EOR will not require you to have an entity in the country you are expanding to, the possibilities for scaling and expanding your business are much greater.
Scaling and expansion in Africa
If you are looking to scale your business in an African country (or several), choosing an African EOR will give you a significant advantage. Because an African EOR is exclusively focused on the African continent, their knowledge and understanding of bureaucracy and of the local culture isn’t comparable with what a global, general EOR can offer, for instance.
Africa HR Solutions is a trusted EOR. Over 400 companies have trusted our experience across 50+ African countries and are now thriving. Find out how our EOR offer can work for your particular scaling and expansion project.
2. Faster market entry
“To do something well, you cannot do it fast…”
While this often applies to many aspects of life and business, EORs are a notable exception to the rule. Not only can EORs provide compliant entry into an African country, they also provide rapid entry, especially when compared to the traditional methods of entry which require length entity set-up procedures.
So you can expect your company to be up and running in an African country within weeks, and not months, thanks to an EOR.
3. Cost Savings
“If you can do something well and fast, you cannot do it cost-effectively.”
While full of wisdom, this is another statement that does not apply to EORs. It’s simply the truth: using an EOR is less costly than entity set-up, and implies fewer upfront costs, as opposed to entity setup.
So rather than use this money (not to mention time and other company resources) for entity setup and bureaucracy purposes, your company can invest it in growing sales and improving your business.
4. Greater Flexibility
Scaling a business is rarely a straightforward project. Along the way, things don’t turn out the way you planned, and they often tend to fluctuate. So while scaling your business up, you may find that your workforce grows and goes down constantly – something you may be ill-equipped to deal with all on your own.
But with an EOR, you have the flexibility to accommodate these fluctuations, and to manage them gracefully, without an observable impact on your scaling project.
How does that happen? EORs can help you manage your workforce without the need for lengthy, time-consuming procedures.
This way, you spend less time and fewer resources on paperwork, and more on your actual business development.
5. Risk Mitigation
When your company partners with an EOR, any risk of liability immediately goes down.
Why is that?
Because EORs lower the risk of liability for your company by taking on a large portion of the legal and regulatory obligations. Among those are HR duties, which entail managing worker contracts, payroll, and benefits management, among other duties.
This is what most EORs do.
But Africa HR Solutions takes it one step further. Not only do we take responsibility for all these duties, but we have also taken it upon ourselves to offer 100% GUARANTEED compliance to our clients.
What does this mean, concretely?
It means that should there ever be any error made, your company will not suffer for it. We will take on the responsibility of any costs incurred.
Why do we offer this to clients? Because this is how confident we are in our team’s ability to stay compliant all the time, everywhere across the 50+ African countries we serve.
But with an EOR, you have the flexibility to accommodate these fluctuations, and to manage them gracefully, without an observable impact on your scaling project.
How does that happen? EORs can help you manage your workforce without the need for lengthy, time-consuming procedures.
This way, you spend less time and fewer resources on paperwork, and more on your actual business development.
6. Low cost of hiring employees
As a company looking to scale up, it is likely that you will have a defined and often tight budget.
Hiring qualified workers in regions where you don’t currently have a foothold can quickly rack up impressive costs when you account for onboarding, payroll processing, and compliance, among other things.
With an EOR, especially one with a digital payroll system, your new hire could easily and rapidly be integrated into your current EOR platform, as the EOR would already have access to the foreign markets you are trying to expand to.
Once again, the cost savings from working with an EOR can easily be invested in your core business, promoting business development as opposed to financing internal operations.
Choose the African EOR specialist
With over 10 years operating on the African continent, Africa HR Solutions has become an expert EOR partner in the region. Our in-country teams understand the local legislation, culture and customs better than anyone, and our single point-of-contact policy gives you direct access to just one point of contact for ALL your questions.
Ready to work with the African specialist? Get in touch with us now.