FAQs

FAQs: Global Funders & Institutional Partners

What exactly do you do that a traditional advisor, bank, or fund doesn’t?

We step in before capital is willing to, and we stay long enough to make capital comfortable.

Unlike advisors, we don’t just prepare materials. Unlike funds, we don’t require control or immediate capital deployment. We act as sponsor-of-record: structuring, sequencing, validating, and governing projects until they are institutionally financeable or strategically saleable.

How do you get paid, and why is that aligned?

We are compensated through earned, milestone-based economics, not transaction volume.

Our primary mechanisms are:

• Equity promotes tied to value-creating milestones

• Milestone-based success fees payable only when defined outcomes are achieved

• Select platform fees, introduced later, once the underlying infrastructure and systems are live and delivering measurable value

We intentionally avoid upfront commissions or capital-raise percentages. Our economics are structured so that we are paid when value is created, de-risked, and recognized—not simply when money moves.

This keeps incentives aligned with owners, operators, and long-term capital, and prevents pressure to push projects prematurely.

Why is sponsorship necessary at all?

Because many assets fail before they are eligible for capital—not due to geology or economics, but due to missing governance, unclear mandates, misaligned incentives, or lack of institutional credibility. Sponsorship fills that gap. We convert potential into bankable reality.

Why do you focus on non-dilutive or capped structures early?

Because early dilution is often value destruction disguised as risk management.

Our job is to protect ownership through the highest-risk phase and introduce dilution only when value has materially increased and terms improve.

How is this different from ‘finding money’ or capital introduction?

We are not paid to introduce capital.

We are paid to make capital make sense—by fixing structure, sequencing risk, and protecting long-term value. Capital comes later, often from counterparties that would never engage without a sponsor in place.

What risks do you explicitly not take on?

We don’t underwrite geology, commodity prices, or operational execution.

Our risk is structural and reputational—we are responsible for discipline, sequencing, and governance. If those fail, we walk away.

How do you ensure this isn’t just ESG theater?

We treat community and ESG commitments as operational covenants, not marketing.

They are tracked, verified, and tied to milestones. If commitments aren’t honored, capital does not advance. That’s why funders trust the framework.

Very—because we don’t operate assets.

Once the sponsorship framework is installed, it can be reused across assets, jurisdictions, and counterparties. The bottleneck is judgment and discipline, not capital.

How scalable is this model?

Why are you the right sponsor for this?

Because we operate at the intersection of local legitimacy and global standards.

We are from the region, with deep cultural and contextual fluency, and we were trained and built our careers in U.S. and international capital markets. That combination matters. It allows us to navigate community, political, and ownership realities on the ground without romanticizing them, while also structuring projects to meet the expectations of institutional capital.

Our credibility with local stakeholders is real, not performative. At the same time, our frameworks, documentation, and governance are designed for banks, strategics, and international investors—not informal markets.

This dual fluency is rare, and it is precisely what allows us to sponsor assets through the hardest transition phase: from locally viable to globally financeable.

(Optional sentence if helpful in live conversation, not required in writing):

I also have the ability to formalize long-term presence in the jurisdictions we work in, including Ghana and Cameroon, which reinforces alignment and accountability.

How do you de-risk the assets?

We de-risk projects by separating truth-finding from capital deployment and forcing discipline before scale.

Our process focuses on four layers of risk that consistently destroy value in frontier and emerging markets:

1. Control & Authority Risk

   We verify who actually has the legal, commercial, and practical authority to transact—licenses, mandates, governance, and decision rights—before capital is ever discussed.

2. Technical Credibility Risk

   We require independent, internationally credible validation of technical assumptions and operating realities. The objective is not perfection, but bankable truth—what can be relied on by third parties.

3. Execution & Governance Risk

   We install sponsor-level governance, reporting, and decision frameworks early, so projects don’t collapse under scale, financing, or partner complexity.

4. Social & Political Risk

   We formalize community and stakeholder alignment into auditable systems rather than informal assurances, reducing disruption risk and protecting long-term operations.

FAQs: Asset & Concession Holders

Will I lose control of my asset?

Short answer: No — unless you choose to.

Our model is built to preserve ownership, not strip it. We prioritize non-dilutive and milestone-based structures first. Equity only comes into play when it is earned through value creation and agreed upfront — not through pressure or crisis financing.