ECIAfrica

About ECIAfrica

ECIAfrica was originally incorporated under the name of Ebony Development Alternatives (Pty) Ltd. in March 1994. This name was chosen to reflect the goodwill and reputations of the two founding corporate partners: Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) and Ebony Financial Services (Pty) Ltd (EFS). In December 1997, the Directors voted to change the name to Ebony Consulting International (Pty) Ltd or "ECI". After EFS left the partnership, a further name change was made in May 2003, to ECIAfrica Consulting (Pty) Ltd., to reflect the company's success in expanding regionally and to help eliminate any confusion of identity with earlier partners.

Immediately following South Africa's democratic transition, the company focused on serving microfinance institutions and programmes, undertaking one- to three-month long consulting projects. In 1998, ECI broadened its offerings to include business linkages for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises and began implementing long-term, multi-year projects on behalf of international donors. Thereafter, we began working to develop pro-poor commodity, agricultural and service markets in South Africa and neighbouring countries. In 2000, ECI expanded its enterprise development service offerings specifically to the tourism sector. Building on our history of success in spurring economic development and job creation, we began building capacity within all three tiers of the South African public sector to improve basic service delivery and social infrastructure.

Today, ECIAfrica draws on its history and breadth of experience in private and public sector-led solutions to advance human prosperity.