Client Advisory: Legal Considerations for Africa’s Next Era of Growth

Africa is poised for transformative growth this century, driven by profound demographic, ecological, and economic shifts.  The continent is projected to be home to 2.5 billion people by 2050, representing the world’s youngest and fastest-growing workforce.  It harbors approximately a quarter of the planet’s biodiversity, the largest remaining tracts of arable land, and over 30% of the globe’s critical mineral reserves.  This convergence of scale and strategic importance creates a significant, long-term opportunity for organizations across corporate, non-profit, philanthropic, and multilateral arenas. Capturing this potential requires navigating a diverse legal and operational landscape.

The following outlines key legal considerations:

1. Structuring agreements that function effectively across multiple legal systems

As entities engage in operations across jurisdictions, there are a wide range of legal instruments, including memoranda of understanding, partnership frameworks, technical cooperation agreements, grant and sub-grant contracts, data-sharing arrangements, advisory service agreements, and multi-stakeholder arrangements.  These instruments require legal review and can require careful attention to the realities of specific national frameworks.  Provisions such as indemnification or data use may need recalibration to ensure alignment with jurisdiction-specific statutes, regulatory expectations, and sector-specific standards.

In addition, implementation processes for agreements can differ significantly.  For example, agreements involving public entities may require procedural steps or ministerial approvals that are not always codified in primary legislation.  Moreover, engagements involving regulated advisory services, such as those in financial, legal, environmental, or technology sectors may intersect with formal licensing regimes, local content rules, or oversight by specialized regulatory bodies. These regulatory touchpoints can fundamentally influence how contractual obligations are defined, performed, and enforced.  As organizations operate across multiple jurisdictions, proactively tailoring these instruments to local legal and operational realities is a strategic measure that can streamline implementation, mitigate compliance and enforcement risk, and establish a stable foundation for sustainable, multi-country operations.

2. Managing disputes within varied enforcement environments

Dispute dynamics differ meaningfully across African jurisdictions, not only because legal systems vary but because institutional capacity and timelines differ.  When disagreements arise, whether nonpayment, performance issues, delays, or partnership breakdowns, considerations typically include:

• Courts’ speed, predictability, and readiness to grant interim relief;

• Whether mediation or conciliation is mandatory before escalation;

• How arbitration awards are recognized and enforced;

• Whether matters involving ministries require administrative escalation rather than immediate legal action; and

• The effectiveness of structured negotiation, which often yields more durable outcomes than adversarial approaches.

In multi-country work, disputes often unfold within broader operational and institutional environments.  Factors such as the relationship between parties, the involvement of public authorities, sectoral norms, and the presence of long-standing partnerships can influence how disagreements evolve and are ultimately resolved.  These contextual elements may shape the pace of engagement, the preferred avenues for dialogue, and the degree to which formal processes are invoked, offering insight into how disputes progress across different settings.

3. Selecting entity structures that align with operational objectives

Selecting an entity structure carries implications for how an organization’s presence is understood and administered.  The chosen form influences the regulatory authorities involved, the processes for commencing operations, and how tax rules apply to the activities undertaken.

Across the continent’s 54 countries, available entity structures may include associations, foundations, non-profits, companies limited by guarantee, companies limited by shares, trusts, joint ventures, or branches.  Each interacts differently with:

• Regulatory approvals, with some structures requiring only corporate-registry filings while others involve review by ministries responsible for social welfare, finance, commerce, or sector-specific oversight;

• Tax posture, including eligibility for income-tax exemptions, VAT relief, customs exemptions, donation deductibility, or investment incentives;

• Operational flexibility, with capital requirements, resident-director rules, and foreign-investment restrictions varying widely;

• Reputation and oversight, with structures associated with public-interest or charitable work often subject to enhanced reporting expectations; and

• Sustainability and scale, including how easily an organization can open branches or expand regionally.

In addition to these factors, entity selection often intersects with considerations related to governance and operational design.  Certain structures may: offer clearer delineations of liability between a local entity and its global parent; or include governance arrangements that correspond more closely to an organization’s programmatic, commercial, or advisory activities.  In some sectors, the chosen structure may also shape access to industry-specific approvals or participation in investment promotion regimes.  Identification of the optimal entity structure helps support workforce planning, financial operations, and the long-term positioning of an organization’s presence within the local legal and regulatory environment.

4. Engaging local counsel and incorporating jurisdiction-specific insight

As organizations operate across multiple African jurisdictions, engagement of local legal counsel can be essential.  Legal systems across the region reflect distinct histories, the interaction of statutory and customary law, and administrative practices that are not always evident from legislation alone.  Regulatory approvals may involve multiple ministries or authorities, and expectations can vary across sectors and geographic contexts.  In this environment, jurisdiction-qualified practitioners provide authoritative insight into the interpretation of national law and the practical functioning of regulatory institutions.

Jurisdiction-specific expertise forms the core of legal accuracy.  Identifying and engaging appropriately qualified attorneys is central, whether the matter involves ministerial approvals, the application of legislation by national courts, data-governance requirements, or pathways for dispute resolution.  Within this construct, jurisdiction-qualified attorneys furnish the definitive foundation for host-country legal analysis, while U.S. counsel can situate that analysis within broader cross-border considerations, including domestic legal obligations, organizational standards, and multi-jurisdictional compliance frameworks.  Together, these complementary perspectives support a coherent understanding of both national and cross-border legal environments.

5. Developing coherent operational and compliance architectures

Compliance spans both U.S. and host-country legal frameworks – this can include sector-specific licensing, financial and tax reporting, employment and immigration rules, data governance standards, sanctions regimes, and environmental or social obligations.  In some contexts, donor or investor requirements introduce additional layers of oversight.  These obligations interact with local statutory and administrative practice as well as global organizational policies, which may require adjustment to function effectively in different jurisdictions.

Workforce management is one area where these intersecting requirements become visible.  Probation rules, confirmation procedures, benefits, and severance obligations vary across jurisdictions.  Distinctions between employees and contractors can affect budgeting, supervision, and alignment with funder or investor expectations.  Documentation related to onboarding, performance, and separation can also shape how tribunals or labor authorities assess disputes. These considerations sit alongside obligations arising from domestic law regimes, including sanctions compliance, data stewardship expectations, or professional-conduct rules, all of which can influence operational design.

A coherent architecture provides a consistent way for these obligations to align with organizational standards and the legal environments in which work is carried out.

How Cordatis Can Help

Cordatis LLP partners with organizations operating in diverse legal and regulatory environments.  We focus on serving as a strategic legal partner, offering centralized oversight and coordination to help align multi-jurisdictional operations with organizational objectives.  Our offerings include:

• Cross-border general counsel services that synthesize legal and operational insight from multiple jurisdictions and align U.S. and host-country requirements.

• Partnership-framework development and review, as well as refinement of a wide range of agreements, including collaboration agreements, MOUs, grants, sub-awards, advisory-service agreements, data-sharing arrangements, technology-integration agreements, and other operational contracts.

• Support navigating a wide spectrum of cross-border operational and regulatory issues, including U.S. Government contracting, U.S. security clearance and CFIUS concerns, donor requirements, and investor expectations.

• Assessment of entity structures and related regulatory implications, including coordination with jurisdiction-qualified local advisors.

• Development of coherent operational, compliance, and workforce frameworks tailored to local legal environments.

• Strategic support for dispute prevention and management, including negotiation strategies.

• Support for organizational expansion or restructuring to help ensure legal, regulatory, and operational alignment across countries.

If your organization is navigating international operations generally, including work in Africa countries or in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) on other continents, we would be glad to explore how our team might support your objectives. For further discussion, please contact Muriel Moody Korol or Bill Savarino.