Services
Country risk consulting
With investigators and consultants in 54 countries across Africa, ARC is uniquely placed to provide geo-political insights for every country on the continent. Through using a wide body of exclusive sources, we are able to provide precise intelligence to help your organisation succeed. ARC’s country risk consulting services include:
Market entry and pre-investment political intelligence, analysis and strategic advice. These are first-hand research projects that combine academic expertise and on-the-ground information gathering.
Multi-country assessments of the countries in which clients operate. ARC will carry out in-depth political, economic, and operating assessments and forecasts of countries in which clients operate to guide future expansion or inform competing investment plans.
Country risk monitoring: After identifying the country risks, ARC will carry out a continuous monitoring programme to help the client keep ahead of any changes to political personalities, as well as the investment, regulatory, tax or other policy regime that may affect the client’s sector.
Integrity and investigation
It is essential for organisations investing, operating or planning to expand their presence across Africa to know whether investment sponsors, direct counterparties or companies in their supply chain pose any integrity, political exposure or corruption risks to them. Failure to understand these risks leaves companies and their executives open to substantive fines in multiple jurisdictions and to possible prosecution.
ARC’s investigations include:
• Integrity due diligence: ARC offers three levels of integrity due diligence to match corporate finance or private equity investment cycle from the earliest prospect of a deal through to a pre-investment committee ‘red flag’ due diligence to an enhanced due diligence for more complex investments.
• Compliance support: ARC provides the essential practical support to companies to ensure they meet the demands of international anti-corruption, anti-money-laundering legislation.
•Litigation support: ARC works with corporate general counsel and litigation teams to carry out often multi-jurisdictional investigations to support litigation or arbitration.
Business intelligence
ARC’s unparalleled research and analysis capabilities and network helps companies make informed investment decisions. ARC’s unrivalled network is pan-African and cross-sectoral and was developed over the course of 2,000 projects. This network enables ARC to help clients gain a deep and granular understanding of the markets they are entering or in which they are operating; to answer questions about politics or business that may be delaying or hindering investments; and to help develop mitigation or expansion strategies. Continuous business and sector intelligence is essential too, for successful day-to-day operations, to develop expansion strategies, or to achieve competitive or early mover advantages.
Business intelligence includes :
• specific issues monitoring
• regulation watching
• tax, currency and debt watching
• trend watching
Brand protection
The global economic value of counterfeiting and piracy could reach $2.3 trillion by 2022. Africa, in particular, is being increasingly targeted as a market for counterfeit goods as a result of the escalating urban populations’ growing demand for many goods not widely available. Brands are confronted with numerous challenges when attempting to stem the production and flow of these products across the continent. The various IPR protection measures available to brand holders differ from country to country and remain largely inadequate and often inaccessible in most African countries.
An understanding of Africa is critical to establish an effective anti-counterfeiting strategy. ARC’s networks across Africa, and its investigative capacity and relationships with law firms, make ARC ideally placed to work with organisations seeking to protect their brands in Africa.
ARC’s brand protection services include:
• Market surveys
• Investigations
• Litigation support
• Specialised tailored reports
ARC Briefing
ARC Briefing is ARC’s country reports service now covering 22 of Africa’s most prominent markets. ARC’s in-country correspondents and in-house analysts collaborate to provide country reports on politics, business and operating conditions in the following countries:
Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
ARC Briefing’s include :
• Monthly reports analyse the political, economic, business and operating environment, keeping subscribers informed and helping them take decisions;
• Planners track scheduled political events, budgets and regulatory changes that may affect day-to-day operations.
• Chronologies provide a snapshot of the month’s political and business events
• Weekly Chronologies summarise the previous week’s significant events.
ARC training
ARC works with companies to raise internal awareness of corruption risk issues and how corruption can leave companies and their executives open to substantive fines and to prosecution – often in several separate jurisdictions. Failure to implement an effective anti-corruption programme can also hamper a company’s ability to operate, acquire funding, future investment or new partners.
ARC’s training is designed to give participants the knowledge and policies they need in order to comply with local and international laws and with corporate best practice.
ARC provides bespoke workshops and training programmes, carefully tailored to meet our clients’ individual requirements. Training can be delivered in situ in country by one of our expert consultants or online.