Frequently Asked Questions

What can I expect from the Afriwise platform?

We created the Afriwise Platform to offer the most in-depth and up-to-date source for legal and compliance-related research across 26+ countries in Africa:

 

• Afriwise provides in-depth analysis and guidance by top practitioners applicable across all major areas of law, structured in Q&A format. 
  
• Our Laws & Monitoring offering gives you access to the overview of key laws and regulations, including: descriptions, access to the official text (with English translation for non-English speaking countries), overviews of bills, upcoming reforms and recent changes, automated e-mail alerts and direct search in the full text of all primary sources of law.
• Afriwise allows you to browse and connect to the largest community of vetted leading in-country legal experts across Africa. 

How can I access the Afriwise platform?

You can access the Afriwise platform from any device connected to the Internet, e.g. your computer, your laptop, your smartphone or your tablet.

What are the benefits subscribers to the Afriwise platform enjoy?

• Access all legal information on our  online and easy-to-use platform, powered by artificial intelligence
• Detailed analysis and guidance on all aspects of key areas of law
• Overview of the  applicable law and upcoming changes, as well as automated alerts on recent legal developments
• Downloadable copies  of all relevant laws and regulations, with English translations for non-English speaking countries
• Direct access to detailed  profiles of vetted in-country legal experts
• Smart-search  throughout full text laws and regulations, and content
• A  legal procurement tool  to ask for quotes across multiple jurisdictions
• Country comparisons  of legal intelligence through a downloadable report 
• A clarification-request tool
• Bookmarking and note-making capabilities 

What content is covered on the Afriwise platform?

What are the African countries covered on the Afriwise platform?

The Afriwise platform offers legal information (practical guidance) on doing business for the following African countries and beyond:

 

• Angola
• Bahrain
• Botswana
• Cameroon
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Egypt
• eSwatini
  
• Ghana
• Kenya
• Lesotho
• Mauritius
• Morocco
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Nigeria
• Oman
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• UAE
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

 

Is the country you're looking for not on this list? Let us know and we’ll see how we can help you. Send an email to for any inquiries in this regard to russell.tarr@afriwise.com

What are the legal categories covered on the Afriwise platform?

The Afriwise platform offers legal information and practical answers to over 1500 critical legal questions per country in Africa & beyond. These questions cover all key categories of law and are structured in a standardised and intuitive manner, making it easy to find and compare information across countries. Answers are provided and continuously maintained by over 100 top legal experts across Africa on the following legal areas:

 

• Business Structures
• Commercial Contracts
• Commercial Crime Competition/Antitrust
• Dispute Resolution
• Employment and Labour
• Environmental
• Exchange Control
• Foreign Investment
• Immigration
• ICT & Data Protection
• Insolvency
• Insurance
• Intellectual Property
• Lending and Security
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Public Contracting and Projects
• Real Estate
• Trade

Does Afriwise provide sectorial content on its platform?

In addition to our standard offering relating to the main areas of law, we also maintain local legal frameworks across essential areas of business and highly regulated industries, such as Life Science, Banking and Financial activities, Telecommunication, and more. For any inquiries, contact russel.tarr@afriwise.com.

Does the legal information on Afriwise constitute a legal opinion?

No. Afriwise is a legal intelligence company. Only law firms can provide a legal opinion. However, the legal information on the Afriwise platform enables you to provide better, more accurate and informed, instructions to your lawyer; hence reducing your legal expenses and saving your time.

The Afriwise platform has a Download function enabling you to share the legal information you’ve found with your lawyer when instructing him/her. Also, see our Legal Procurement tool.

What are the labels on the Afriwise platform?

Labels work like tags. They help to group together information that involves a common theme and are designed to make finding information along each theme very simple. We use the following tags on the platform at present, but are adding new ones all the time. Subscribers are welcome to suggest new labels that could be added.

 

Label	Description/Theme
High risk	Selected areas where a particularly high risk is posed.
Reporting obligation	Where there is a duty to report something (this is not exactly the same as a disclosure requirement below, but if in doubt, select both). This can be either periodic reporting (annual, monthly, etc.) or reporting when something happens (e.g. when there is an injury).
Prison sentence	Where prison sentences are possible.
Large/variable fines	Where large or highly variable fines are possible.
Civil liability	Civil liability means liability for damages or financial harm caused.
Criminal liability	Criminal liability means something is a crime or an offence – it is accompanied by either a fine or imprisonment, or both.
Exclusion risk	This means a company or person can be prevented (excluded) from activity (e.g. withdrawal of a licence).
Licence/permit requirement	Where a licence, permit, consent or something similar is needed to conduct an activity.
Unusual requirement	A requirement that is not typical.
Disclosure requirement	Where something needs to be disclosed. It can overlap with a reporting obligation.
Important for foreigners	Where a requirement applies specifically to foreigners.
High risk	Selected areas where a particularly high risk is posed.
Reporting obligation	Where there is a duty to report something (this is not exactly the same as a disclosure requirement below, but if in doubt, select both). This can be either periodic reporting (annual, monthly, etc.) or reporting when something happens (e.g. when there is an injury).
Prison sentence	Where prison sentences are possible.
Large/variable fines	Where large or highly variable fines are possible.
Civil liability	Civil liability means liability for damages or financial harm caused.
Criminal liability	Criminal liability means something is a crime or an offence – it is accompanied by either a fine or imprisonment, or both.
Exclusion risk	This means a company or person can be prevented (excluded) from activity (e.g. withdrawal of a licence).
Licence/permit requirement	Where a licence, permit, consent or something similar is needed to conduct an activity.
Unusual requirement	A requirement that is not typical.
Disclosure requirement	Where something needs to be disclosed. It can overlap with a reporting obligation.
Important for foreigners	Where a requirement applies specifically to foreigners.

How is the legal content on the Afriwise platform developed and maintained?

How does Afriwise ensure the quality of the content?

All answers received from local firms go through a thorough editing process, which is managed by our own team of editors (all lawyers and/or legal journalists with law degrees). The process consists of several phases, which ensures that the answers are accurate, up to date, relevant and practical:

1. When we receive all answers in relation to a certain category for a country, the first thing we do is assess it to see if it meets our quality standards. If not, it is sent back to the contributor with detailed guidance on how to bring it up to standard.
2. For each category that passes this initial scrutiny, one of our editors carefully goes through it. Here, the editor checks that each answer actually answers the question and answers it fully, picks up inconsistent answers and questionable ones. The editor will also focus on grammar, spelling, style and consistency. This is important for when we overlay technological tools, such as the comparison tool, which allows users to compare answers across countries.
3. During this process, the editor raises queries for the contributor to respond to, e.g. if two answers contradict each other or if information is missing.
4. Depending on the responses received to these queries, this process may be repeated.
5. The editor then consolidates the responses and one of our other editors conducts a final proofread of the entire category before it is uploaded to the platform.
6. Once uploaded, the authoring contributor is asked to approve the final version, to ensure that it is accurate and up to date.
   

How does Afriwise guarantee the content is always up-to-date?

The knowledge base is maintained through close collaboration between the contributors, our editors and our team of legal-development monitors. We have several systems in place to pick up relevant changes in law and regulations:

1. Upcoming legal reforms are already described in quite some detail in each category and hence are closely monitored by our editors.
2. We are in regular contact with our local partner firms and regularly enquire about legal developments. Our local contributing firms also proactively notify us about changes that have an impact on the answers provided by them.
3. We proactively monitor updates in each country that could affect the knowledge base, using a variety of sources.
4. We have separate, dedicated editing resources to update the existing knowledge base.