Field Africa

From a head office in South Africa, Field Africa runs market research across the continent for clients who need one point of contact for the whole of Africa. The agency was established in the late 1990s and says it works for multinationals, listed companies, entrepreneurs and governments. It operates in a number of African countries and concentrates its project management in South Africa so that multi-country studies are coordinated from one team.

Research projects across many African markets

Field Africa describes its offering as market research with a working understanding of African markets, delivered through fieldwork in several countries. Its published coverage list includes Algeria, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Ethiopia and Guinea-Bissau, among others. Running one study across that range means dealing with different regulations, languages and fieldwork partners, and the agency presents its single contact point as the answer to that complexity.

Focus groups and customised studies

The agency recruits and moderates focus groups, in traditional face-to-face form and online. It takes a flexible approach to each brief, on the view that one size does not fit all. In many cases it designs a customised study, and it uses proprietary tools to complement the bespoke work.

Why clients work with a single team

The agency says its project managers are concentrated in South Africa, so clients have one convenient contact for the full scope of an international project. Specialist skills are shared across the organisation rather than held in isolated pockets, and the agency says teamwork and collaboration run through the business, so that people with the right skills are assigned to each client. It describes its African footprint as efficient and accessible.

The clients it serves

Its clients are multinational companies, listed businesses, entrepreneurs and governments that need research on African consumers, markets and conditions. Its services are aimed at organisations that want reliable data from several countries without managing separate agencies in each one.