Local content

We help clients bolster local content to drive in-country value creation, strengthen resilience amid global economic uncertainty, and simulate sustainable growth.

We achieve this by designing and implementing robust local content strategies and flagship programs to catalyze local talent development, prioritize and accelerate local investments, and stimulate local innovation and technology deployment.

Local content, local value

Gaining a foothold in global markets is no longer enough to guarantee healthy economic growth. As global market instability, supply chain uncertainties, changing consumer demands, national security requirements, and other challenges increasingly disrupt local economies, the need to invest in in-country value creation is more pressing than ever. Strategic localisation – or the procurement of, investment in, and development of locally produced goods, services, and labor – is emerging as an essential component to boosting growth, fostering innovation, creating jobs, and strengthening self-reliance. By investing in local content initiatives that are built on a backbone of innovation to deliver sustained downstream advantages, governments will be better positioned to cushion their economies with diversity and resiliency.

 

Your local content partners: Strategy& and PwC

Working together, Strategy& and PwC support public and private entities in the development and implementation of local content agendas. From oil & gas to banking, from supply chain operations to cloud computing, from Indonesia or Kazakhstan to Brazil to the GCC, our team has leveraged our unique framework and strategy to deliver more than 50 diverse local content projects worldwide. Our team has a deep understanding of the local content challenges and opportunities that are distinct to the region.

 

How we can help

Governments

We help governments design and execute comprehensive and dynamic local content programs to help stimulate job creation, boost resilience, and realize structural long-term competitiveness.

National champions and large companies

We assist national champions and large companies in rolling out local content programs that leverage their large procurement spend, products, strategic partnerships, facilities, training academies, and financial power. These efforts create win-win situations, such as lower costs, increased resilience, and new customers.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

We develop strategies to support local workforce development, increase the market share of local suppliers, and inject more capital into local markets to help SMEs flourish.

Research and development institutes

We partner with research and development institutes to develop start-ups that accelerate technology transfer and to create the platforms that enable local industries to tackle their challenges, create new products, boost productivity, and overcome obstacles.

Universities

We support universities in increasing the technical, managerial, and leadership skills of the local workforce to meet labor market needs now and into the future.

Investment arms/sovereign wealth funds

We support the M&A activities of investment arms, in alignment with local-content goals and policies, to encourage international companies to invest locally through foreign direct investment and joint ventures.

The Strategy&-PwC local content framework

Our local content framework helps decision makers drive local content across the public and private sectors. The framework consists of the key elements required to execute a successful implementation strategy, including the following components. Hover over each to explore it further!

Articulate the strategy

  • We develop a rigorous program outline with ambitious yet realistic targets that is in line with the national strategy.
  • We assist governing bodies in setting up local content incentives and metrics, and we ensure coordination between stakeholders.
  • We identify investment opportunities that capitalize on the competitive advantages of each region.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Procurement and investment

  • We help decision-makers realize local content growth aspirations by focusing on localising procurement spend and increasing local content of the supply chain.
  • We revise procurement policy and processes to align with local content goals.
  • We aggregate the demand of products and services at the right level of granularity.
  • We identify potential anchor companies and design, activate, and manage an investment engine that covers the end-to-end investor journey from opportunity identification to business case to funding to operations support.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Procurement and investment

  • We help decision-makers realize local content growth aspirations by focusing on localising procurement spend and increasing local content of the supply chain.
  • We revise procurement policy and processes to align with local content goals.
  • We aggregate the demand of products and services at the right level of granularity.
  • We identify potential anchor companies and design, activate, and manage an investment engine that covers the end-to-end investor journey from opportunity identification to business case to funding to operations support.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Procurement and investment

  • We help decision-makers realize local content growth aspirations by focusing on localising procurement spend and increasing local content of the supply chain.
  • We revise procurement policy and processes to align with local content goals.
  • We aggregate the demand of products and services at the right level of granularity.
  • We identify potential anchor companies and design, activate, and manage an investment engine that covers the end-to-end investor journey from opportunity identification to business case to funding to operations support.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Capacity development

  • We evaluate existing talent development infrastructure and identify areas where additional training and certifications are needed to support the local content agenda.
  • We operate structured supplier development programs to equip SME suppliers to compete for large procurement contracts, including certification support and skills development.
  • We evaluate the local capacity for research and development and innovation and work to attract investment in new technologies and enable technology localisation.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Business environment

  • We provide a framework to boost local competitive advantage and improve the ease of doing business.
  • We design and implement initiatives aimed at improving the ease of doing business for companies and investors (e.g., one-stop-shop services for investors).
  • We provide access to world-class local infrastructure (e.g., integrated industrial and logistic clusters, IT infrastructure).
  • We develop strategies for sharing infrastructure investment costs.
  • We design and implement a tailored and holistic fiscal incentive program, including tax benefits, to attract investors.

Build the operating model to enact it

  • We evaluate existing talent development infrastructure and identify areas where additional training and certifications are needed to support the local content agenda.
  • We operate structured supplier development programs to equip SME suppliers to compete for large procurement contracts, including certification support and skills development.
  • We evaluate the local capacity for research and development and innovation and work to attract investment in new technologies and enable technology localisation.

The Strategy&-PwC local content framework

Our local content framework helps decision makers drive local content across the public and private sectors. The framework consists of the key elements required to execute a successful implementation strategy, including the following components.

Articulate the strategy

  • We develop a rigorous program outline with ambitious yet realistic targets that is in line with the national strategy.
  • We assist governing bodies in setting up local content incentives and metrics, and we ensure coordination between stakeholders.
  • We identify investment opportunities that capitalize on the competitive advantages of each region.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Procurement and investment

  • We help decision-makers realize local content growth aspirations by focusing on localising procurement spend and increasing local content of the supply chain.
  • We revise procurement policy and processes to align with local content goals.
  • We aggregate the demand of products and services at the right level of granularity.
  • We identify potential anchor companies and design, activate, and manage an investment engine that covers the end-to-end investor journey from opportunity identification to business case to funding to operations support.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Capacity development

  • We evaluate existing talent development infrastructure and identify areas where additional training and certifications are needed to support the local content agenda.
  • We operate structured supplier development programs to equip SME suppliers to compete for large procurement contracts, including certification support and skills development.
  • We evaluate the local capacity for research and development and innovation and work to attract investment in new technologies and enable technology localisation.

Identify the best means to achieve it:
Business environment

  • We provide a framework to boost local competitive advantage and improve the ease of doing business.
  • We design and implement initiatives aimed at improving the ease of doing business for companies and investors (e.g., one-stop-shop services for investors).
  • We provide access to world-class local infrastructure (e.g., integrated industrial and logistic clusters, IT infrastructure).
  • We develop strategies for sharing infrastructure investment costs.
  • We design and implement a tailored and holistic fiscal incentive program, including tax benefits, to attract investors.

Build the operating model to enact it

  • We evaluate existing talent development infrastructure and identify areas where additional training and certifications are needed to support the local content agenda.
  • We operate structured supplier development programs to equip SME suppliers to compete for large procurement contracts, including certification support and skills development.
  • We evaluate the local capacity for research and development and innovation and work to attract investment in new technologies and enable technology localisation.

Going local: Case studies from the Gulf

Our work in the region includes local-content initiatives with a GCC ministry of energy, a major GCC chemicals company, and a GCC renewable energy authority, among many others.

Putting a national champion’s capabilities on a mission to localize

A state-owned GCC chemicals company embarked on a mission to use its molecules, procurement power, job-training capabilities, and financing power to boost local job creation, grow national GDP, and improve quality of life. PwC-Strategy& was retained by the company to provide end-to-end design and implementation support of its local content strategy and program.

Our team defined a mission-oriented and capability-driven local content growth strategy focused on fully leveraging the company’s key capabilities and strengths. This flagship local content program included a detailed operating model for a local content unit to strategically guide the company’s efforts and a built-in investor value proposition to attract new capital. More than 100 investment opportunities have graduated from the local content program, creating an estimated value of USD$1 billion.

Driving value downstream

A state-owned GCC petrochemicals company retained PwC-Strategy& to design a local content and investment attraction program with downstream value creation potential.

The team focused on four key objectives for the client – the localisation of materials, new downstream business opportunities, workforce development, and foreign investment attraction – to define priority local content segments. These segments included specialty coatings and plastic additives as well as a holistic investor value proposition for the petrochemicals company.

Pulling national strings to boost resilience through local content

A newly established ministry was mandated by the government to develop and launch a national in-country value (ICV) program to support the national industrialization agenda to grow local-value add, boost industrial exports, and support local job creation. The ministry retained the support of PwC-Strategy& to develop a national ICV program strategy, operating model, and implementation roadmap.

PwC-Strategy& assessed the economic impact of the ICV strategy and supported the rollout of the flagship ICV programs (e.g., procurement spend localisation).

Using local content as a competitive advantage for doing business

A global oilfield services company needed to adapt its strategies to meet local content requirements, especially in the oil and gas sector. The company partnered with PwC-Strategy& to identify growth opportunities in two markets and identify potential joint-venture opportunities.

The team developed a local content framework to help the client develop a country-specific growth strategy and identified key local content drivers. PwC-Strategy& also recommended product lines with significant potential for growth and identified potential joint-venture opportunities with smaller/regional players.

Stimulating growth with subsidies
Leveraging the power of data to unlock local value

A major GCC national oil company (NOC) retained PwC-Strategy& to establish an energy sector local content program. PwC-Strategy& designed the local content strategy and integrated the local content program into the NOC’s procurement function and across the country’s energy sector.

One of the key highlights was the design and rollout of a best-in-class ICV digital portal and website, which streamlined interactions between various stakeholders (client, energy companies, auditors, suppliers, and certifiers). PwC-Strategy& mobilized a team of local content and digital experts to provide in-depth expertise in local content reporting and certification and dynamic real-time digital portals/dashboards.

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Contact us

Dr. Yahya Anouti

Dr. Yahya Anouti

Partner and ESG Leader, Strategy& Middle East

Dr. Bashar El-Jawhari

Dr. Bashar El-Jawhari

Partner, PwC Middle East

Nicolas Boukhalil

Nicolas Boukhalil

Partner, Deals, PwC Middle East

Devesh Katiyar

Devesh Katiyar

Principal, Strategy& Middle East

Nick Laborie

Nick Laborie

Director, Consulting, PwC Middle East

Fadi Saba

Fadi Saba

Director, Deals, PwC Middle East

Azzah Fawzi

Azzah Fawzi

Partner, Assurance, PwC Middle East

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