Christophe Dominique (E89) and Nathalie Blanc (BBA 02), Heads of ESSEC Alumni’s South Africa Chapter and Cape Town Chapter respectively, tell us about the life of the local alumni community – and the services they offer them.

ESSEC Alumni: How famous is the ESSEC brand in your country? 

Christophe Dominique: The French Embassy launched a campaign a few years ago to increase the influence of French higher education through collaboration amongst France’s alumni from South Africa, which gave increased visibility to ESSEC and other Grandes Écoles.

EA: What are the profiles and whereabouts of our alumni in South Africa? 

C. Dominique: Johannesburg counts around 50 alumni, most of them being expatriates working for French companies, but we also have long-term French residents and a few locals.

Nathalie Blanc: Cape Town has a smaller community of about 15 French alumni and locals who went to ESSEC in France as part of a university exchange program.

EA: What is the economics and politics situation in South Africa?

C. Dominique: With an ever-increasing cost of living, an unemployment rate around 35% and forecasted to grow to 40% in 2040, and an energy’s crisis with continuous loadshedding for the next 2 years to come at least, I must say the economic situation seems quite bleak.

N. Blanc: However South Africans are about to elect a new National Assembly in 2024, which could lead to a change of governance.

EA: With that in mind, what opportunities are there in South Africa for our alumni? 

C. Dominique: It is rather difficult to get a working visa due to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), a program that provides a legislative framework for the transformation of South Africa's economy. However, the scarcity of skills gives a lot of opportunities to our graduates – all the more since France ranks 11^th among foreign investors in South Africa regarding the stock of FDI (Foreign Direct Investments), around €1.8 billion. 370 French companies’ subsidiaries are based in South Africa – including most of the major CAC40 firms. They are present in many sectors and employ more than 65,000 people. They drive emblematic projects in railways, water and waste management solutions, renewable energies and nuclear power. And of course, they are keen to employ our alumni. As a matter of fact, most of them are here on an intercompany transfer visa, for a period of 3 to 5 years, working as CEOs or CFOs for the most prestigious French companies. But we have some long-term expats as well, some who stayed after their VIE in the country and now work for local companies. Also, as tourism is a key driver of the South African economy, we have quite a few IMHI graduates.

N. Blanc: La French Tech South Africa is currently deploying its activities in the whole country offering resources, opportunities and support to French tech entrepreneurs, innovation facilitators and tech talents moving to South Africa.

EA: As a foreigner, what makes it interesting to live in South Africa?

C. Dominique: South Africa is a beautiful country, with extremely diverse landscapes. We have 2,800 kilometers of coastline stretching from Namibia and the Atlantic Ocean, round the tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas where it becomes the Indian Ocean, and up to the Mozambique border. Flora and fauna are also unique with an iconic wildlife including the largest land mammals and 22,000 indigenous plants from 230 different families; the country boasts that it has 10% of the world’s flowering species. Another interest is the quality of South African wines and food. There are many excellent restaurants, especially in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Last but not least, the weather is an undeniable asset. The sun shines all year long, and though it might be freezing at night during the winter, temperatures during the day usually remain rather clement.

EA: What about South Africans?

C. Dominique: South Africa has 11 official languages and a multilingual population. Most South Africans are fluent in at least two languages. They are also extremely friendly, and love nothing more than to invite you round for a Sunday lunchtime ‘braai’ (barbecue).

EA: What advice do you have for our alumni moving in South Africa? 

C. Dominique: Embrace the South African culture, visit the country and participate to its development by empowering the local population. Enjoy… but stay vigilant. Security is a major issue in a country where the Gini index, a measure of statistical dispersion representing the wealth inequality within a nation, is the highest in the world, before Namibia.

EA: What is the offer of ESSEC Alumni’s South Africa Chapter and Cape Town Chapter? 

C. Dominique: We usually meet 3 to 4 times a year for networking dinners, and as the French community is rather small in South Africa, we also have multiple opportunities to meet at other events. We are also trying as much as we can to help students trying to find internship or employment in South Africa.

EA: What are the latest events you organized? 

C. Dominique: We participated in the 2022 ESSEC Alumni Day and to a networking cocktail during Johannesburg’s ESSEC MBA fair in support of the recruiting team. 

N. Blanc: In Cape Town, we recently organized a get-together with local entrepreneurs, and a webinar with the both of us and Clément Blanc (BBA 00) to answer ESSEC students’ questions about South Africa’s job market in with Alumni. 

EA: Do you need more volunteers to get involved? 

C. Dominique: We would like to have someone in charge of organizing more events with the South African business and civil communities, so that our chapter becomes a real platform for debates here. Feel free to reach out!

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni 

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