O’Brien group strengthens southern Africa presence

SAONGROUP, the holding company of Denis O’Brien’s portfolio of online recruitment companies, has strengthened its presence in southern Africa by buying the Mauritius-based recruitment website, myjob.mu for an undisclosed sum.

“The acquisition is a strategic move for our southern Africa division. Not only is Mauritius a growing economy with strong financial and telecommunications sectors and declining unemployment; it also allows our existing South African clients with businesses in Mauritius to avail of the same service from one source,” said Saongroup chief executive Ciaran McCooey.

Mr McCooey said that Saongroup could leverage off its South African recruitment website, PNet — which it acquired last year — as many of its clients there also have business operations in Mauritius.

It is understood that this latest acquisition — last month, the group expanded its British presence with the acquisition of the online localjobsgroup company to add to its myjobgroup.co.uk business — will be added to within the next month as the business looks to keep growing.

It already has interests in Ireland, Britain, mainland Europe, the US, China, India, Dubai, South Africa and the Caribbean.

“We always have acquisition opportunities in the pipeline and some might be more immediate than others. We’re looking to keep expanding into emerging markets where the economy and internet usage are growing,” he added.

The myjob.mu buy certainly keeps with that policy. Mauritius has a population of 1.2 million and 15% internet usage.