Menas Associates

Menas Associates has been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle East, Africa, and other emerging markets since the late 1970s. A boutique political and strategic risk consultancy firm, we undertake projects on behalf of clients from country entry strategies, to due diligence, stakeholder analysis, political risk reports, market assessments, problem solving and exit strategies. We have been involved with hundreds of ad-hoc consultancy projects on around 60 different countries for 40-50 clients. Initially, we were engaged mainly in creating and managing multi-disciplinary teams of non-legal experts to work on international border disputes and commercial arbitration cases. Since the late 1980s, the majority of our consultancy work has been conducted for oil companies, ranging from the super-majors to very small IOCs. Menas has had to become more flexible in the range of consultancy projects we offer as companies are faced with growing legal requirements (e.g. FCPA and UK Bribery Act) and pressure from host governments, shareholders, press, and NGOs to act as more socially responsible investors (e.g. stricter environmental legislation; local content requirements etc.). The range and complexity of our work has therefore developed over time from relatively straight-forward political risk reports to encompass all parts of the business cycle. For example, the volume of due diligence and ‘know your client’ projects we have undertaken has significantly increased since 9/11. We have also expanded our business activities to include online publications on regions we cover and country briefings – private and public. We are based in London and work with our in-country experts and specialists who have strong local connections, which ensures that our information and analysis is based on real ‘on the ground’ knowledge.