Millward Brown Spreads African Presence with New JV

Millward Brown has announced plans to extend its collaboration with Scangroup Limited and open a West African hub office in Accra, Ghana, in June.

MB already works in a similar joint venture with Scangroup in in East and Central Africa.

Millward Brown West Africa will be headed by Soumya Saklani as MD, reporting to Tim Smyth, MD of Millward Brown East-Central and West Africa. Saklani brings more than 15 years' research experience in Asia and Africa and has worked previously with Millward Brown.

According to Smyth, the East African business has seen strong growth over the past two years, and the West Africa client service hub will give clients 'best in class service right across the African continent'. He adds: 'From day one we will be working with some of the most well-known brands operating in the region, and this gives us a very solid platform from which to grow our business and service offering in the region.'

Scangroup CEO Bharat Thakrar comments: 'The desire of Millward Brown's Africa-based clients to have useful and timely delivery of consumer knowledge, insights and advice that help them with their business decision making is extremely strong, despite challenging market conditions of recent years.'

Millward Brown has more than 78 offices in 51 countries and is part of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy group. Home pages: www.millwardbrown.com and www.scangroup.biz .