Barkal Limited is a boutique advisory firm, headquartered in London, specialising in catalysing project finance, FDI into, and exports from, Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) countries, and helping international companies secure lucrative public sector works contracts.
We have assisted numerous companies in doing business with and in Africa.
Barkal Limited clients have included providing discreet pre-investment positioning and local advocacy for a middle-tier Australian gold company to facilitate the smooth acquisition of a highly prospective asset in SAA, and we have also helped uncover and develop to bankability below the radar acquisition mineral targets in the continent for a TSX listed miner.
Barkal also continues to consult closely on African assets acquisition strategy with the management board of a one of the most valuable gold and copper mining companies in Eurasia on greenfield and brownfield investment and acquisition strategy across the continent, including arranging exclusive scoping opportunities and high-level meetings with heads of state, senior ministers, and other public officials for the firm to facilitate direct and equity investments. We also have exclusive access to several exciting mineral investment opportunities in mature and frontier countries in Africa in precious metals, rare earth minerals, base metals, and clean energy transition and industrial minerals.
Barkal has also provided advocacy and business development services to a major (over USD2bn in revenue) European energy company in EPC opportunities across the continent, as well as driving private investment strategy for PPA and BOOT solar projects in Africa for a Turkish firm due to list on the Istanbul bourse imminently. Our clients also include a major truly global industrial conglomerate with assets over USD40bn, for whom Barkal provides investment and trading strategy, and high-level government advisory for one its key business lines across West Africa, the EAC, and SADC.
Barkal has enviable contacts and access to heads of state, senior ministers, and other public officials across SSA. Their trust in us – forged through personal relationships - puts Barkal at a distinct advantage when offering international businesses bespoke and carefully curated investment opportunities in, to name a few, the minerals sector, hydrocarbons and other natural resource sector, clean energy, power transmission, and strategic export-oriented projects across the continent.
Governments and the local private sector throughout Africa also trust Barkal unreservedly to bring the right, key foreign partners for public sector works programmes and the development of strategic export-oriented sectors – and that’s why Barkal has the distinct edge in showcasing and guiding foreign companies through lucrative investment and public procurement opportunities within several SSA countries.
At Barkal Limited we are also keenly aware that finance is often the limiting factor preventing foreign companies from going forward with clearly bankable and attractive investment or public works opportunities. And that’s why Barkal Limited has also deployed its expertise to creatively unlock private and public finance at scale and speed to help foreign firms seize the multitude of business opportunities afforded by the African continent.
We have lines of financing deployable for Africa at scale and at long maturity from our partners in key financial capitals in Europe, Asia, as well as from private and public investors in the Gulf region, and North America, underpinned by Barkal Limited’s regional hubs in Greater Geneva, and Istanbul – and of course its headquarters in London.
In merchandise trade, through our fully-owned subsidiary, Barkal Gold Associates (Barkal Gold Associates - Premier Gold Trading), we facilitate access to customers worldwide to Africa’s high-quality gold from its key producers – a welcome safe haven asset amid unprecedented geopolitical instability. And that’s not all: Barkal Limited facilitates the access of several other sort-after primary commodity exports of Africa, including gum Arabic, sesame seeds, hibiscus, chilled and fresh meat, groundnuts, coffee, and tea.
Come partner and grow with Barkal Limited: your specialist advisor for investment, finance, trade, and project opportunities across Africa.
We create bespoke investment frameworks that align with your business goals in Sub Saharan Africa.
Access reliable financing options from global partners tailored for your projects.
Our deep understanding of local markets positions your business for success.
Connect with key stakeholders and decision-makers across the region.
We facilitate access to emerging market opportunities in diverse sectors.
Gain support in developing strategic partnerships for growth and sustainability.
Ahmed served as a spokesperson for Sub Sahara Africa and Global Financial Markets for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment and advisory arm of the World Bank, at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Before joining IFC, Mr. Badawi worked as director in London at Raitt Orr & Associates, the niche Africa-related government relations and public affairs agency.
At Raitt Orr, he was notably responsible for providing strategic counsel and public diplomacy support to the Government of Kenya, which included speechwriting for the late Kenyan president, Daniel arap Moi, and drafting and placement of rapid response rebuttals in the international press.
Ahmed also oversaw Raitt Orr’s public affairs advisory with the representative office of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the overseas lending arm of the Japanese government, and indeed drafted a paper for JBIC on FDI in Africa that was presented at the annual Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in 2003.
Ahmed Badawi is intimately familiar with residing in Africa, too, spending over a decade residing and criss-crossing the continent from his base in Khartoum, Sudan. He provided in-country consultancy services to the Republic of Sudan, focused on crisis communications, strategic counsel, and public diplomacy outreach relating to Sudan-US relations, including arranging briefings and ‘Q&As’ for Sudanese officials at Washington think-tanks, which have been attended by the State Department, NGOs, and others with influence over American policy to Sudan.
Ahmed Badawi has, himself, spoken at high level fora including at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, and the EastWest Institute. Ahmed has been published and interviewed in extensive English-language articles regarding African affairs, including for The Guardian, the Royal Africa Society, BBC, Forbes Magazine, and The Daily Telegraph.