The investment, including an additional €1.13m in funds from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, will pay for a series of training workshops for academics and employees of the University of Pretoria, South Africa, the University of Nairobi, Kenya, the School of Media and Communication of Nigeria and the Central University College of Ghana.

Beginning in the summer, students of these universities will be trained in market research conception, evaluation and statistics. At the same time a number of market research academies will be set up to train locals on interviews and data collection techniques. Graduates of both the universities and the academies will then work together on pilot studies collecting basic country data.

Raimund Wildner (pictured), vice-president of GfK’s major shareholder GfK Verein, said the investment fulfills two of the organisation’s main purposes: “to support the education of market researchers and to strengthen the cooperation with universities”.