BrazilAnalysis: Where do strategy consultants go after they quit?
Nearly 70% of people who exit a top strategy consulting firm in the Middle East end up making the cross to in industry. This is according to analysis of industry hires by Eddy Zreik.
For the analysis, Eddy Zreik (a strategy consultant himself) analyzed data from over 900 consulting moves in the Middle East over the past decade. The movements were tracked across people from six strategy consultancies: McKinsey; Boston Consulting Group; Bain & Company; Kearney; Oliver Wyman; and Strategy&.
While nearly one third stay in consulting – joining other firms, or going on to found their own – the largest portion of people actually move into leading roles outside of the consulting scene.
The largest share of crossers to industry headed into the technology, media and telecom sector. Around 14% headed into the financial services and capital management sector.
But the analysis also found that there were appetites for strategy consulting skills in a number of other sectors. Most prominently, around 7% of moves saw consultants transition into the consumer and leisure sector or into the government sector.
Top roles and employers
As would stand to reason, the lion’s share of consultants exiting strategy brands for industry move into some form of strategy or planning work. Overall, 46% of those leaving head into strategy roles – with that sitting highest among those joining the real estate, logistics, energy and consumer sectors. In each case, more than half of all movers were heading for planning roles.
Popular destinations for consultants include Amazon, Oracle and Google in technology, Public Investment Fund, Visa and Mastercard in financial services and capital management, Noon and Seera Group in consumer markets, Adnoc in energy, Careem in logistics, and Neom in city development.
The appeal of strategy consulting
The analysis once more highlights that strategy consulting serves as a springboard to diverse career paths. Early exposure to a wide array of industries and challenges equips consultants with a valuable and transferrable skillset.
In the longer term, often these people grow further to become leaders within a company’s ranks – a feat which has been the case in the US and Europe for decades – into the Middle East. In fact, a recent study even dubbed strategy consulting firms as the runaway CEO factories, well ahead of other sectors.
Furthermore, some former consultants carve out successful entrepreneurial paths, exemplified by the founders of Careem, the Middle East’s pioneering unicorn. These trajectories underscore the multifaceted appeal of strategy consulting, offering not only a platform for skill development but also a launchpad for impactful careers in various sectors.
