Expansion across Africa is often framed as a market opportunity.

New customers, growing adoption, and expanding digital ecosystems continue to attract businesses into multiple African markets. Yet for many companies, growth across the continent becomes difficult to sustain beyond initial entry.

Across African markets, businesses must operate within different tax regimes, currency environments, banking systems, and capital access frameworks. These differences introduce financial complexity that directly impacts how companies manage cash flow, allocate capital, and sustain operations across jurisdictions.

Over time, these issues increase financial risk and slow growth, limiting the ability of emerging growth companies and established businesses alike to scale sustainably.

Financial Advisory as a Strategic Growth Enabler

According to Velex Advisory, managing this complexity requires more than accounting. It requires a structured approach to how financial decisions are made across the business.

“Poor financial management and structure is one of the biggest challenges businesses across Africa face, especially as they expand. In many cases, growth happens faster than the systems supporting it, which then leads to cash flow pressure, inefficiencies across markets, and difficulty sustaining that growth,” says Jonathan Nwanze, Finance Manager, Velex Advisory West Africa.

Businesses, therefore, need structured, strategic financial advisory to help them:

• Align their financial structure and capital structure with the expansion strategy
• Manage capital across multiple jurisdictions, and maintain visibility across revenue and cost centers.
• Prepare for investment, funding, and capital raising
• Ensure compliance without limiting operational flexibility.

This is what enables businesses to move from operating to scaling with clarity, financial flexibility, and control across markets.

How Velex Advisory Structures Finance for Scalable Growth

Financial advisory is one of Velex Advisory’s core service areas, supporting businesses by aligning financial strategy with how they operate and expand across African markets.

Rather than treating finance as a back-office function, the firm works with companies to ensure that financial decisions support business growth, market entry, and long-term sustainability across multiple jurisdictions.

“Scaling across multiple markets requires more than access to capital. It requires discipline in how that capital is structured, deployed, and managed across the business,” says Vadim Mildov, Executive Chairman, Velex Group.

At Velex Advisory, financial advisory is delivered as a structured, hands-on process that connects financial planning with operational and strategic decision-making across the business.

This includes:

i) Tax Advisory

Operating across multiple markets requires careful alignment with different tax regimes.

Velex Advisory supports clients in structuring their operations to ensure tax efficiency while maintaining compliance with local regulations. This includes corporate tax positioning, cross-border tax considerations, and aligning tax structures with revenue flows, business plans, and overall financial goals.

ii) Financial and Investment Analysis

As businesses scale, financial visibility becomes increasingly important.

Velex Advisory provides financial and investment analysis to help businesses assess performance, evaluate growth opportunities, and prepare for investment or expansion. This includes supporting investment readiness, understanding valuation, and identifying financial risks across markets.

iii) Banking Advisory and Assurance

Access to banking infrastructure and financial institutions varies significantly across African markets.

Velex Advisory supports businesses in establishing and managing banking relationships, navigating local financial infrastructure, and aligning capital and liquidity structures with operational needs. This includes guidance on liquidity management, capital planning, and financial systems that support cross-border operations.

Connecting Financial Structure to Business Growth

Financial advisory does not operate in isolation. Velex Advisory also supports businesses across key operational and legal functions that directly impact how companies operate and expand.

“Financial structuring and legal structuring are deeply connected. Decisions around transactions, partnerships, and expansion have direct implications on risk exposure and long-term sustainability,” explains Laura Gacho, Legal Manager, Velex Advisory East Africa.

On the legal side, the firm provides support in licensing and regulatory compliance, intellectual property and data protection, and transaction advisory, including joint ventures, M&A transactions, capital raises, and strategic partnerships.

From a business advisory perspective, Velex Advisory works with clients on business establishment and development, market entry and growth strategy, human resources consulting, and due diligence and valuation support, ensuring that operational, structural, and strategic decisions are aligned from the outset.

By integrating business, legal, and financial advisory services, Velex Advisory supports companies in building structures that are not only compliant but capable of sustaining long-term success and growth across African markets.

As part of the broader Velex Group and working alongside Velex Hub and Velex Investments, the firm connects advisory, investment readiness, and expansion strategy into a single, coordinated approach across markets.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals has advanced talks with the Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) on a strategic partnership to supply refined petroleum products to the Republic of the Congo, in a move aimed at expanding its regional footprint.

The talks followed a visit by an SNPC delegation to the Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, led by the Congo state oil company’s Managing Director, Mr Maixent Raoul Ominga.

During the visit, Mr Ominga described the refinery as one of Africa’s most significant industrial achievements and said the Congolese national oil company was interested in building a long-term partnership with Dangote.

According to Mr Ominga, discussions centred on opportunities for collaboration in crude refining, petroleum products supply, energy security, industrial development and technical knowledge exchange. He noted that although the Republic of the Congo has its own refining capacity, working with Dangote would strengthen fuel supply, improve value creation and deepen cooperation between the two organisations.

The SNPC chief also praised the Dangote Group for demonstrating that African companies can finance, build and operate world-class industrial infrastructure.

He further commended the group’s investments in Congo’s cement industry, saying they have expanded local production capacity and improved the availability of construction materials.

On his part, the chief executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Mr Aliko Dangote, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to Africa’s industrialisation agenda through regional partnerships and value addition.

“We are for Africa, not just Nigeria. Tell us what you need, and we will see how we can work together,” Mr Dangote said.

He added that the Dangote Refinery has established a new benchmark for fuel quality on the continent by producing petroleum products that meet international specifications, while helping African countries reduce dependence on imported refined fuels from outside the continent.

Group Vice President, Oil and Gas, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr Devakumar Edwin, outlined the company’s long-term expansion strategy, revealing plans to increase its total refining capacity to 2.1 million barrels per day. The expansion will comprise 1.4 million barrels per day in Nigeria and a proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Kenya to serve East African markets.

Mr Edwin also disclosed that the Dangote Group plans to invest an additional $46 billion between 2026 and 2028 across its refining, cement and fertiliser businesses as part of its broader strategy to accelerate industrialisation across Africa.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The duo of Oando Plc and Transcorp Plc have been evicted from the NGX 30 Index by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the 2026 half-year review of market indices.

In a statement from Customs Street on Wednesday, it was disclosed that Unilever Nigeria Plc and NASCON Plc are the new members of the elite index.

Designed using the market capitalisation methodology, NGX indices are reviewed semi-annually on the first business day of January and July to ensure they remain aligned with evolving market dynamics and international best practices.

The exchange reserves the right to make further adjustments where necessary in the event of mergers, acquisitions, trading suspensions, resumptions or other corporate actions prior to the effective date of an index review.

Business Post reports that the consumer goods, banking, insurance, industrial goods, energy, pension, and pension broad indices did not witness any entry or exit.

However, the Lotus Islamic index saw the inclusion of Nestle Nigeria and Cadbury Nigeria and the exit of NASCON. Stanbic IBTC Holdings was added to the Afrinvest Bank Value index, with Access Holdings leaving the Afrinvest Div Yield index after the inclusion of Seplat Energy, Fidelity Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Custodian Investment, and NAHCO.

Further, the Meristem Growth index welcomed Eterna and PZ Cussons and bid farewell to BUA Cement, GTCO, AXA Mansard Insurance, NAHCO, NASCON, Okomu Oil, HBM Nigeria (Lafarge Africa) and Wema Bank.

As for the Meristem Value index, the NGX added Chemical and Allied Products, Honeywell Flour Mills, Dangote Cement, Linkage Assurance, Livestock Feeds, NASCON, Okomu Oil, and TotalEnergies, but removed Ecobank, Guinness Nigeria, and Zenith Bank.