Summary | Team | Current Environment | Case Histories | Africa

Substantive African Business Development Expertise

Our Africa Group specializes in helping clients successfully launch and manage projects across Africa. We create strategies that address bureaucracy, policy, and culture, and mitigating potential risk while engaging the continent’s burgeoning growth. With a Sub Saharan Africa annual GDP of approximately $600 billion, Africa is entering an unprecedented era of growth and development. Many of America’s leading corporations are retooling their investment strategies to participate in Africa’s 21st century opportunities.

Foreign direct investment is spurring the growth of industries traditionally associated with Africa like energy and natural resources, but also stimulating construction, health care, transportation, and telecommunications. Buoyed by strong government and institutional support, Africa has become an attractive growth market across industries.

Many African governments are focusing on redefining their relationships with international development organizations and the U.S. government. These forward-looking nations are seeking experts to assist them in finding private sector partnerships, managing the development funding processes, and establishing effective relationships.

Carmen Group knows how to compete and succeed both on the ground in local markets and more broadly within influential international organizations. Our executives have over 5 decades of hands on experience in Africa, global development and relief organizations and the senior levels of the U.S. government’s legislative and executive branches.

We create unique business development strategies for each of our clients that reflect their long-range goals in Africa, their compelling market position, and their specific competitive and comparative advantages. We work with clients to focus their activities on the important issues and relationships that motivate the relevant decision makers within governments and multilateral funding agencies. Our Proven Process has helped us achieve an unparalleled success record for helping our clients increase market share, revenue and profitability.

Carmen Group has wide ranging strategic relationships and a long history of working with Africa’s leaders to embrace the power of the free market and create an environment in which America’s business leaders can have greater confidence in investment. Carmen Group professionals have been instrumental in:

• Helping a leading international construction and engineering firm identify specific World Bank funded projects and project guarantees that will allow the client to bid on projects in East Africa.
• Creating business development strategies to assist our clients in identifying contract opportunities resulting from Millennium Challenge Corporation funded projects in Africa.
• Using our extensive contacts with African governments and the African private sector to identify projects where our clients have competitive advantage and payment assurance through multilateral guarantee agencies.
• Working with governments to clarify and articulate their long-term goals and strategic positions in Africa and to communicate with decision makers in both the international development and diplomatic communities.

Special Expertise

• Universities and Education Systems
• USAID Funded Projects and Management of Contract Award System
• Federal Agency Coordination
• Drafting Trade and Investment Legislation
• Multilateral Agency Coordination and Management of Contract Award System
• Solicitation of African Government Contracts
• Use of MIGA to Manage the Risk of Doing Business in Africa
• Creation of Effective Market Entry Strategies
• U.S. and African Strategic Corporate Partnerships
• Strong Links to African Regional Associations like the African Union, NEPAD, Ecowas, and Comesa
• Building Partnerships with Africa’s Leading Business Leaders
• Crafting and Delivering Effective Messages to Congress, the White House, and the Executive Branch
• Identification and Creation of Appropriate Funding Sources and Public-Private Partnerships

Proven Record of Working Effectively With:

• White House
• African Governmental Leaders
• U.S. Corporations
• Congress
• Department of State
• U.S. Agency for International Development
• Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
• Leading African Corporations