Ready for Capital. Structured to Scale.

Yes. We are sector agnostic, and we act for businesses across financial services, industrials and manufacturing, technology, consumer goods, healthcare, real estate and infrastructure, agribusiness and logistics. The work we do, reconciling the financial records, documenting ownership, putting governance and reporting in order, building a model that explains the business, is the same test an investor applies whether the company makes food, lends money, moves freight or writes software. What changes from sector to sector is the investor profile, and that is set for each mandate in the Fundraising Proposal.

There are two things we do not do. We do not undertake project finance, which is the financing of a single asset or project on the strength of its own cash flows rather than of an operating company. And we do not raise capital to cover operating losses. Our mandates are for legally registered operating companies seeking capital to grow.

Yes. We are based in Nairobi and work across Sub-Saharan Africa. A mandate requires a legally registered operating company; where it is registered within the region does not change how we work or what we charge.

Most of the work is done remotely, with site visits where the due diligence review calls for them. Investors are reached through our partner network, so a company's home market is the starting point for the campaign, not the limit of it.

You do not need a transaction in view to work with us. Growth and Scale Advisory is a growth engagement in its own right: we structure the business to grow and scale, with a 24-month plan, the governance to support it and a quarterly review, while you keep full ownership and control. Readiness for capital is a consequence of that work rather than its purpose. Enterprise Advisory works earlier still, on the business model, product-market fit, revenue model and target customers, until the model is one an investor can back. Financial modelling and valuation, the due diligence review and the investor readiness sprint are also each available on their own, and many companies commission them a year or more before they intend to raise.

The reason is simple. The same things that make a business ready for capital, clean records, clear ownership, reliable reporting and a defensible model, also make it easier to run and to grow. The work holds its value whether or not a raise follows, and if one does, the fee for financial modelling and valuation is credited against the readiness fee.

We are an advisory firm, not a fund. Our fee is earned on completion of your transaction, not by taking a position in your company, which keeps our interest aligned with yours: we are paid when you are funded.

We selectively support early-stage companies with exceptional potential that do not yet meet our mandate criteria. Each case is considered on its merits, and the terms of any engagement are agreed in writing before work begins.

Yes. Everything you submit is used only to assess your enquiry and, if it proceeds, to carry out the engagement. We do not share your information with investors or prospective buyers without your agreement, and information from each engagement is held separately.

A mutual non-disclosure agreement is available on request before any detailed review, and we will not ask for business documents until a due diligence review has been agreed. Where we act for both companies and investors, the two are kept apart: we do not earn a success fee on capital from a fund we advise, and we disclose and step back where a conflict could arise. Personal information is handled under the Kenya Data Protection Act, as set out in our Privacy Notice.

No success fee. Our principal fee is a success fee of 3% to 5% of the capital raised or the transaction value, and it is invoiced per tranche only as funds clear. If no funds clear, nothing is owed on it.

Fees for work already carried out remain payable. The due diligence review is a fixed fee paid upfront. Investor readiness is charged at cost recovery of direct staff costs only, 70% upfront and 30% on completion. Both are agreed in writing before any work begins, so there are no surprises in either direction. We do not charge monthly retainers at any stage.

Because the readiness work is what makes the raise possible, and it is yours whether or not the raise happens. The due diligence review and the readiness sprint are done before any investor sees the business. They produce a model, a data room, a governance framework and a set of resolved issues that the company keeps, raise or no raise. That is why they are priced as work, at a fixed fee and at cost recovery of direct staff costs only, with no margin on readiness.

The largest fee is already at risk. The success fee is the only place we earn a return, and we receive none of it unless funds clear. If we deferred the readiness fee as well, we would be lending our staff time to every mandate and pricing that risk into everyone's fees, which would make the service dearer for the companies that are ready. Where a business is already investor-ready, or closes the gaps with its own team, the readiness fee is waived altogether, so a well-prepared company pays for the review and nothing more before the campaign.

The range reflects the work involved in closing different transactions. A larger, simpler raise with a single instrument sits toward the lower end. A smaller or more complex transaction, with several instruments, several investors or a sale process, takes more of our time for each dollar raised and sits toward the upper end.

The rate for your transaction is set in the Fundraising Proposal, before you commit to anything, together with the instruments, timetable and investor profile. It is a fixed percentage once agreed, invoiced per tranche as funds clear, and it does not change during the mandate.

No. A mandate can be exclusive or not, and the choice is yours. Many companies prefer exclusivity because it gives one adviser full accountability for the raise, but we do not require it, and we work alongside other advisers and existing investor conversations.

Where there are other advisers or engagements already under way, we ask for a list of the investors already approached and exclude them from our outreach, so that no investor hears from two parties about the same transaction and no fee is earned twice. If you would prefer us to approach an investor already in conversation, for instance to carry a stalled discussion through to close, we do so at your request, and the proposal sets out how that capital is treated.

If they stand up, we will. That is what the due diligence review is for: we examine the records, the model and the materials you already have, and where they meet the standard an investor will apply, the readiness fee is waived and we go to market with them. A company that is already prepared pays for the review and nothing more before the campaign.

The reason we look first is that a raise of USD 1 million or more is tested differently from an earlier round. Angel, grant and friends-and-family capital is usually committed on the founder and the story. Institutional investors, lenders and buyers commit on the records, and their due diligence is deeper and less forgiving. Documents that carried a smaller round often have gaps that only show at this size, and an investor who finds one either walks away or reprices. It is far cheaper to find it in a review than in a term sheet negotiation.

We look at the business the way an institutional investor will, before one does. The review covers the financial records and how they reconcile, the legal standing of the company and its contracts, the ownership and share register, governance and reporting, and the operational records that support the numbers.

It concludes in a Gaps Analysis Report: a prioritised account of everything that stands between the business and a successful transaction, from issues that would stop a deal to points an investor would simply negotiate on. It is written to be acted on, so the business knows exactly what to resolve and in what order.

It usually does. Very few growing companies have everything in order, and finding the issues before an investor does is the point of the exercise. What matters is that they are resolved before the business goes to market.

There are two routes. The investor readiness sprint, over four to five weeks, closes the gaps with our team and produces the materials investors expect: a pitch deck, a one-page investment summary, an indexed data room, a governance and reporting framework, and preparation of founders and management for investor meetings. Alternatively, if the business prefers to close the gaps with its own team, it can, and the readiness fee is waived. The same applies where a business is already investor-ready.

Two stages, and the timetable depends on the state of the business at the start. The investor readiness sprint takes four to five weeks. The investor campaign that follows, from targeted outreach through due diligence by investors to completion and receipt of funds, typically runs for three to four months.

A business that arrives with clean records and a sound model moves faster. One with significant gaps may need longer in readiness before we take it to market, because an investor who finds an unresolved problem in due diligence either walks away or reprices. We would rather spend an extra fortnight preparing than lose a term sheet.

We review every submission against our mandate criteria and reply by email within 24 hours on working days. If there is a fit, we arrange a conversation to understand the business and the transaction in more detail. If there is not, we say so plainly, and where another of our services would help we tell you which.

No documents are required at this stage, and submitting the form commits you to nothing. We request documents only when a due diligence review has been agreed, and every fee is set out in writing before any work begins.

Through our strategic partners, we reach more than 400 active investor relationships across the United States, Europe, the United Arab Emirates and the wider Gulf, and Africa: venture and private equity funds, development finance institutions, impact funds, family offices and corporate investors, together with lenders for debt and blended structures.

We do not send a business to all of them. The Fundraising Proposal sets out the investor profile for your transaction, by instrument, ticket size, sector and geography, and the campaign is directed at investors whose mandates match it. Companies we advise are presented to investors beyond their home market, with a single point of accountability in Nairobi.

We run the campaign: we identify and approach the investors, manage the data room and the flow of questions, and keep the process to its timetable. The founders and management present the business, because investors back the people who run it, and we prepare them for those meetings during the readiness sprint.

When terms arrive, we advise on them, we compare offers where there is more than one, and we support the negotiation through to signing and completion. The decision is always the company's. We do not sign on your behalf, and we do not hold client funds; capital moves directly between the investor and the company.

No adviser can, and you should be cautious of one who claims to. Whether a transaction closes depends on the business, the market and the investors, and no amount of preparation removes that uncertainty entirely.

What our fee structure does guarantee is that our judgement is on the line alongside yours. Because the success fee is earned only on completion, we accept the mandates we believe will close and decline the ones we do not. If we take a business to market, it is because we expect to be paid for it.