He said graduates were also technically skilled and the firm was opening centres near regional universities to recruit new staff.
A memo written in 2004 by Pfizer's chief executive, Hank McKinnell, urging corporations to buy and promote Proxy Governance's services just as the firm was opening for business, raises questions about whether the advisory firm's recommendation reflects an unbiased point of view or a relationship with the company and its top executive.
But in an odd confluence, three such projects by this firm are opening in succession.
Across Europe and North America, the firm is opening eight "business accelerators," where consultants will spend up to nine months helping start companies in which the firm could own a stake.
But Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the giant leveraged buyout firm, is opening up a little on Monday as one of its publicly traded affiliates reports results.
Philips, a Dutch electronics firm, is opening an innovation hub in Kenya to focus on health care and lighting.Most African countries are starting from a low base and still spend only a tiny proportion of GDP on scientific research.
Plainly, he knows how to put investors at ease, and has a good rapport with Jonathan Oppenheimer, a De Beers director whose father, Nicholas, is the firm's overall boss.But gold-mining is the new hope for the region, where Barrick, a huge Canadian firm, is opening several new mines.
To cope with the demand, the firm is opening a big new automated warehouse in Andover, Hampshire, late this year, and another one is planned for 2017.Ocado sells its own brands, but has also benefited from its long-standing tie-in with Waitrose, a posh supermarket, and its more recent hook-up with the more mid-market Morrisons.
Analysts expect the group's profits will rise by over 60% by the year to March 2017, compared with $3.8 billion in the year to March 2014.Despite (or perhaps having learned from) the failure with Lyondell, the firm is opening up to outsiders at an operational level, as it must do to become a global competitor.
One screener who worked for a private security firm was open about her difficulty in distinguishing objects as she screened bags, admitting that she "did not see so good".
