For ambitious finance professionals across Africa, overseas secondments have become more than just a line on a CV. Increasingly, they are proving to be a catalyst for accelerated career development, broader leadership capability and, for some, a decisive step on the path to partnership.
While international experience is not a formal requirement to make partner at the Big Four, those who have completed secondments often describe them as career-shaping. Recent secondees speak of how working in different markets sharpens judgment, builds confidence and fundamentally changes how they see their role within global firms.
Learn to adapt
For many, the value of secondments lies not only in technical exposure, but in learning how quickly they must adapt.
‘I learned how to collaborate effectively with colleagues across borders’
Oyinade Adewumi, payroll tax manager at KPMG Nigeria, spent her secondment working with the tax team in Kenya. She describes it as ‘one of the most enriching chapters of my career’, noting that the experience went far beyond technical tax work. ‘I learned how to collaborate effectively with colleagues across borders and gained insight into the culture and how it influences the way Kenyans approach their work,’ she says. ‘The experience provided me with the exposure I needed and enriched me both personally and professionally.’
That exposure, she says, changes how you operate when you return home. ‘The biggest shift I’ve noticed isn’t just in my skillset, but in my perspective,’ she says. ‘Navigating a different regulatory and cultural landscape forced me to move beyond “how we’ve always done it” and adopt a more agile, pan-African mindset.’
One message comes through consistently: secondments rarely fall into your lap. They reward those who ask, follow up and position themselves as ready.
In a group discussion with EY professionals Patrick Mwangi (Kenya), ACCA student Joseph Mukiibi (Uganda) and Mose Diana Sebastian (Tanzania), all three stress the importance of taking ownership of the process. Sebastian notes that many people simply never explore the opportunity. ‘There are people who just go through EY not even accessing this opportunity,’ she says. ‘Take the initiative and be open. I know people can be picky, but unless a country has safety issues, you should be open to opportunities available to you.’
‘You learn a lot about yourself and who you want to be’
That openness matters, particularly in Africa, where secondments may be regional rather than to overseas destinations. ‘Irrespective of the country, take up secondment programmes when they come,’ Mwangi says. ‘Don’t be choosy.’
Who are you?
Yaseen Hassim, a senior manager at Deloitte South Africa currently on secondment in Italy, describes the experience as ‘so much more than just a line in your CV’. Working on international audits under Public Company Accounting Oversight Board standards, he says the technical exposure is significant – but the bigger shift is personal. ‘You learn a lot about yourself and who you want to be,’ he explains. ‘People don’t know you, so what you’re portraying to them is who you want to be.’
Hassim also highlights the importance of intentionality. ‘If you don’t put yourself out there, you’re just going to be sitting in your apartment,’ he says.
‘Once you’ve survived busy season in Manhattan, very little scares you’
That willingness to adapt – culturally, socially and professionally – is repeatedly cited as something partners look for later in a career.
Think ahead
Senior partners who undertook secondments earlier in their careers often see a direct line between those experiences and their progression.
Hadijah Nannyomo FCCA, now a tax and trade partner at EY Kenya, completed multiple secondments across East and Southern Africa over several years. While she says partnership was not always the explicit goal early on, she believes the exposure was fundamental. ‘If it was up to me, it would be a prerequisite for certain positions,’ she says. ‘You’ll never get that diversity and difference between cultures if you’ve never gone anywhere.’
Similarly, Jatin Kasan, partner and head of financial services at Mazars South Africa, describes his secondment to New York as ‘career-defining’. Despite the unexpected challenge of working through the onset of the pandemic, he says the experience reshaped how he leads. ‘It stretched me in the best possible way,’ he says. ‘Once you’ve survived busy season in Manhattan, very little scares you.’
‘Spend time understanding the people behind the numbers’
From a firm perspective, international experience is not a box-ticking exercise. Hilary Gallagher, head of partner matters at Deloitte UK, stresses that secondments are not required to make partner, but they can be ‘an effective way of demonstrating breadth of contribution, adaptability to new markets and opportunities, the ability to flex leadership style, and making an impact in other cultures and geographies’.
Those qualities, she adds, are ‘key attributes of great leaders’.
Make the most of it
For those considering a secondment, recent secondees emphasise preparation and mindset. Adewumi advises finance professionals to ‘go prepared’ – understanding local regulations but also investing time in relationships. ‘Secondments thrive on social capital,’ she says. ‘Spend time understanding the people behind the numbers.’
Others point to the importance of treating the experience holistically. ‘It’s not all about work,’ Mwangi says. ‘Have a life. Don’t wait until the last month to explore.’
Mukiibi recommends reaching out to former secondees who may know the lay of the land, both in terms of what to expect professionally but also how to navigate a new country. ‘They can give you tips and tricks,’ he says.
Perhaps most telling is what people say they would do differently. Many wish they had stayed longer. Several argue that shorter secondments limit the depth of learning, particularly in tax and regulatory roles where it takes time to earn trust and responsibility.
Secondments may not guarantee partnership, but across the big firms they increasingly act as a signal – of curiosity, resilience and readiness for leadership beyond national borders.
As Hassim puts it, the real value lies in what you bring back. ‘It’s about how you show the firm that this is what I’m bringing back to the table,’ he says. ‘That’s what will be useful in your career going forward.’
