A private desk, built around counterparties

Tawira Africa Limited operates as Tawira Africa Connect. The desk covers eight markets, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana, Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire, and twenty-one sectors, from energy and infrastructure through to the creative economy.

We work with institutional funds, development finance institutions, corporates entering a new market, and family offices taking their first African position. What they have in common is that the decision to look at Africa has already been made, and what is missing is the specifics: who the counterparty is, whether the regulator will move, what the structure has to look like, and how the underlying risks compare with the headline assessment.

Why the intermediation gap exists

African markets have both opportunity and capital. What is thinner is the layer between the two. A fund can assess an asset remotely, but local execution often requires direct engagement with promoters, regulators and other counterparties. Local presence adds context to the analysis, particularly around counterparties, regulation and licensing, which is why the desk is staffed in the markets it covers.

On the continental picture

50 of 54 African Union members have ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area, and around 25 have gazetted the tariff schedules that make it operational (AfCFTA implementation tracking, 2026). The distinction between ratification and implementation is important when assessing regional distribution opportunities. We therefore distinguish between the agreement's formal status and its implementation in individual markets.