StratEcon has delivered economic advisory services across Africa and beyond, spanning feasibility studies, cost-benefit analyses and strategic advisory engagements across 12 countries on three continents.
Our international clients include global corporations, multilateral development institutions, national road and energy agencies and some of the largest hospitality and resources groups operating on the continent. For a boutique independent advisory firm based in Cape Town, that combination of African reach and global client relationships is genuinely unusual.
This international footprint reflects the fact that the economic challenges facing governments and investors across Africa, such as infrastructure financing, resource allocation, energy transition or water scarcity, are both technically demanding and deeply contextual. Solving them requires economists who understand African markets from the inside.
Major infrastructure projects in Africa frequently span national boundaries, involve multiple regulatory jurisdictions and require financing from international development institutions with their own analytical requirements. StratEcon has extensive experience preparing cross-border feasibility studies across Africa and cost-benefit analyses that meet these standards, including studies conducted under the Equator Principles framework.
From hydroelectric schemes on the Zambezi to rural electrification master plans, cross national transport corridors and water projects, StratEcon has worked on some of the most significant energy, transport and water infrastructure projects in Southern and Eastern Africa. We understand the economics of large-scale investment in developing market contexts, the financing structures, the tariff implications and the community benefit obligations that shape project viability.
StratEcon has worked with multilateral institutions and bilateral donors, including the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme and GIZ, on projects where rigorous, independent economic analysis is a prerequisite for funding approval and programme design. Our development economics practice spans Southern Africa and extends into Eastern Africa. We are experienced in the analytical standards these institutions require and the reporting frameworks within which they operate.
International private sector clients operating in Africa need economic analysis that is both technically credible and grounded in local market realities. StratEcon has provided economic advisory services across Africa to major corporates in transport, energy and hospitality, including engagements commissioned directly from London by global-listed companies.
In Mauritius, we conducted the cost-benefit analysis for the Road Decongestion Programme for the Mauritius Road Development Authority under the Equator Principles framework.
In Zimbabwe and Zambia, we have worked across multiple phases on the Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric Scheme for the Zambezi River Authority and ERM, one of the most significant proposed energy infrastructure projects in Southern Africa. We also prepared Zimbabwe’s Rural Electrification Master Plan.
In Namibia, StratEcon developed a CGE model for the Electricity Control Board (ECB) quantifying the macroeconomic impacts of new electricity generation options and tariff changes, alongside renewable energy policy and tariff analysis. This model is used by the ECB to understand the economic implications of energy decisions in the country for over a decade and a half.
In Mozambique and Lesotho, our work has spanned major cross-border transport infrastructure (the Maputo Corridor and Lesotho road upgrades) and the GIZ-commissioned Social and Economic Value of Water study in Lesotho, which fuels Gauteng industry, the economic powerhouse of Africa.
Across Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia, we have delivered economic analysis across multiple phases of Sun International’s gambling industry, a long-running relationship reflecting our familiarity with investment environments across sub-Saharan Africa.
In Kenya, we performed an impact assessment of the Motherland programme and are currently engaged on a Water Project cost-benefit analysis, reflecting StratEcon’s expanding footprint in East Africa.
And further afield, Anglo American PLC and Hyve Group PLC have both commissioned work directly from London for the Anglo American Platinum Forecasting Model and the economic contribution of the Mining Indaba. Few African boutique advisory firms can point to client relationships of this kind.
Most economic advisory firms based in South Africa operate primarily within South Africa. StratEcon has spent over 20 years building something different, a practice with genuine pan-African reach and a client list that extends to global corporations and multilateral institutions.
That reach means we bring real cross-country pattern recognition to every engagement, and that international clients can work with a firm that understands both global analytical standards and African market realities. That combination is not easy to find.
Independent. Rigorous. Africa-focused and beyond.
StratEcon works with governments, development finance institutions and private sector clients on economic advisory engagements across Africa and internationally. Contact us to arrange a no-obligation introductory discussion.