Baringa to launch first Birmingham office in 2024
Management consultancy Baringa has announced an expansion to its regional presence in the West Midlands. Its first office in Birmingham will open its doors in early 2024.
Speaking on the move, Alison Gaskins, chief operating officer at Baringa, explained, “By opening a new office in Birmingham we can access a great talent pool. Birmingham already has a strong professional services sector as well as five universities – there are a wealth of smart people who can help provide the brainpower we need to fuel our expansion.”
Baringa provides consulting services to the energy, financial services, consumer products and government sectors, among others. Its offerings include economic advisory, technology transformation and data advisory, while clients include a number of Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 names, as well as many up-and-coming start-ups. This diverse platform has seen it double its global headcount in the past two and a half years, moving from 952 people in April 2021 to 1,922 in October 2023.
Earlier in 2023, this expansion saw Baringa expand its US footprint with an office in North Carolina. Now, the UK headquartered firm is turning its attentions to its domestic market, with an office in central Birmingham which in time should provide a base for more than 50 people, to be recruited from the local area.
Gaskins added, “Birmingham also provides a new option for our colleagues. Some can use the office to work more flexibly, balancing time between home, the London office and the Midlands. And not everyone wants to live and work in London – by having a base in another city we make ourselves more attractive to people who choose not to base themselves in the capital.”
In recent years, the West Midlands has developed a status as being the UK’s fastest growing tech sector outside of London. This has also led to an influx of specialist talent in the region – something which has seen a growing number of consulting firms look to tap into the region’s innovative market. Previously, this has seen heavyweight advisory brands EY and Accenture, and engineering firmRendel and global construction consultancy Meinhardt among the new arrivals in the area.
A site for the new office has not yet been chosen, but it is expected to open by January or February 2024. Meanwhile, Baringa – which received platinum ratings in the banking, financial services, insurance, and telecom industry categories of Consultancy.UK’s 2023 rankings – maintains that it is “looking to keep expanding and evolving over this next period.”
