Abidjan · Côte d'Ivoire · ECOWAS
We advise investors, operators and institutions on the political, regulatory and commercial realities of building a business across Côte d'Ivoire and the wider West African region — before the commitment is made, not after.
The problem we work on
The financial modelling is usually sound. What tends to be missing is an honest reading of the ground: which permit actually gates the timeline, which ministry owns the decision, whether a proposed local partner can survive diligence, and what happens to all of it in an election year.
Horizon Global Strategies exists to close that gap. We work in the space between the investment case and the operating environment, and we write for people who have to make a decision with incomplete information — which, in frontier and emerging markets, is always.
Practice areas
Engagements rarely stay inside a single category. We scope them separately so you know what you are buying, then run them together so the findings actually reconcile.
01 — Growth
Feasibility, entry structuring and route-to-market design for companies opening operations in Côte d'Ivoire and neighbouring UEMOA states — including partner identification, cost-base modelling and localisation planning.
02 — Risk
Structured monitoring and scenario work on the decisions that move your downside: cabinet reshuffles, subsidy and tariff changes, currency and capital controls, security dynamics and electoral cycles across the region.
03 — Diligence
Pre-transaction work on who you are actually dealing with: corporate history, beneficial ownership, litigation and insolvency record, political exposure, and sanctions and adverse-media screening, sourced locally rather than from databases alone.
04 — Compliance
Practical guidance on the frameworks that govern operating in the region — OHADA uniform acts, UEMOA and BCEAO requirements, sector licensing, local content obligations and cross-border data and payments rules.
How we work
01
Registry filings, local counsel, sector operators and field checks. Subscription databases are a starting point, never the finding.
02
The law, the filings and the room are in French. We work in the source language and deliver in whichever one you need.
03
We do not sell certainty about politics. We set out the plausible paths, the indicators that distinguish them, and what each one costs you.
04
Findings first, sourcing shown, confidence stated. Short enough that the person making the decision actually reads it.
Insights
Commentary on the policy, legal and commercial questions we get asked most often. General analysis — not advice on any specific matter.
Ratification is not implementation. What actually changes at a West African border today, and how to model the gap between the treaty text and the customs post.
Most electoral risk analysis stops at who wins. The variables that actually hit operations are procedural, and they move on a longer clock than the ballot.
Seventeen states, one commercial code, and a persistent gap between the harmonised text and how it is administered locally.
Send us the situation in a few lines. If it is something we can help with, we will come back with a scope and a fee estimate. If it is not, we will tell you that too.