We help companies to scope the right partners, and form strategic partnerships and alliances that hold.
Ngao Africa works with international companies entering the region, East African companies growing across it, and the development institutions, public agencies and business associations that bring companies together. We design and build the partnerships through which international companies enter and grow in Kenya and East Africa, and through which East African companies meet them. We map all sides of the deal, design an arrangement where every party wins, bring the right people to the table, and stay with you until the partnership is fully in place.
East Africa is Taking Off: Why You Need to Be A Part of It
2026 has been a remarkable year for investment into East Africa. About USD 27 billion of commitments for Africa were announced at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi in May, the Kenya International Investment Conference closed with about USD 2.9 billion of agreements, and construction has begun on projects as large as the USD 16 billion refinery at Lamu. Each of these commitments will become investment through partnerships: a local partner, an offtaker, a distributor, a power supply, a county agreement, a joint venture. Designing and building those partnerships is the work we do, and there has never been more of it waiting to be done.
We design the arrangement around what each party values, allocate rights, risks and obligations, as appropriate, and then document and help negotiate it, working alongside your existing advisers.
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We map the market, identify and assess candidate partners, set out the regulatory path from the start, and make the introductions. You choose from a shortlist with the reasoning behind each name.
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We design the arrangement around what each party actually values, allocate rights, risks and obligations to whoever is best placed to carry them, and then document and help negotiate it, working alongside your existing advisers.
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We train the people who will run the partnership, set up how it will be governed, and stay involved after signature, when most of the value in any partnership is won or lost.
Who we work with
Institutional and Development Partners
Development finance institutions, government agencies, counties, chambers and associations turning introductions and pipelines into signed partnerships.
International Companies
Entering or growing in Kenya and East Africa, and looking for the partners, structure and approvals to do it well.
East African Companies
Meeting international and regional partners, and wanting to be ready, negotiate fairly and build something that lasts.
Companies Growing Across the Region
Reaching the next East African market through distributors, joint ventures, acquisitions and cross-border partners.
Experience Built on Solid Transactions
Ngao Africa brings more than ten years of experience in cross-border acquisitions, development finance partnerships, sovereign and syndicated financings, capital markets and regulatory matters, on transactions worth more than USD 800 million in total. This work has involved negotiating with development finance institutions and multilateral lenders, structuring acquisitions that required approval from regulators in more than one country, and settling the shareholder, financing and risk-sharing terms on which partners commit capital to one another.
We work alongside trusted associates in law, finance and regulation across the region, and closely with our clients’ own advisers, so that each partnership is supported by the expertise it requires from the first conversation to completion.
Planning a strategic partnership for 2027?
Budgets and partner decisions for next year are settled between now and December. A working session before then is usually enough to see the options clearly and to decide which partnership to pursue first.