International professional services firm, Rödl & Partner has stepped up its expansion in Africa by setting up a regional office in Nairobi, Kenya. The strategic move is designed to tap into the broader Eastern African region, a highly attractive market for companies seeking international growth.
Speaking when he formally opened the Nairobi office, Prof Christian Rödl, Global Head of Rödl & Partner, said the firm would be extending its legal, tax, audit and management consultancy services to companies in Kenya with a special focus on SMEs, tech start-ups and family owned businesses.
“We have over the years built a specialist support for family owned business around the world which benefit from our international presence and expertise. Our particular interest lies in small and medium sized companies which often tend to family-owned
companies.
Such companies tend to form the economic backbone of most, if not all African economies,” said Prof Rödl. “Kenya’s economy is largely being driven by small and medium sized firms, most which are family-owned businesses at various stages of development,” he said. “We have witnessed some of them in getting into turmoil that can be avoided or resolved with professional help.”
Rödl & Partner is positioned to attend to European companies moving into Africa.
Similarly, the firm is angling for the companies that export products to Europe, particularly in Germany, which is Kenya’s third largest export market in Europe. Over 60 German companies have invested more than KES. 9 billion (EUR. 86 million) in Kenya.
Professor Rödl said that the firm already has a track record on the African continent. From 2012, the firm has been acting as the legal adviser to the African Union Commission when, alongside the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF), a fund set up to finance geothermal development in Eastern Africa.
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