Getting Started

Navigating the Afriwise platform

How do I find the legal information I’m looking for on the Afriwise platform?

There are three routes to finding the answers to your legal questions on the Afriwise platform:

1. The first - and recommended option - is to browse our wiki-like structure to find what you need. Our Product Team designed the knowledge base specifically to make browsing simple and intuitive. One of the reasons we encourage browsing through the knowledge base is that, in browsing for an answer, you might discover information that you did not know was relevant to your legal research, which you might have missed by conducting a direct search.
2. The second option is to search directly for keywords or phrases using the Afriwise search engine.
3. Finally, you could always ask for clarification or contact us directly at subscribers@afriwise.com to help you find the answer to your legal question. We encourage users to suggest questions that are not already listed on the platform.

How is the legal information organised on the Afriwise platform?

Our knowledge base uses a hierarchical “wiki” structure, summarised as follows:

• Categories:  The starting point when looking for something is the 19 commonly used commercial legal categories. These appear on the right-hand side of the relevant country page and are listed to the right as a quick reference guide.
• Subcategories: Each category is divided into several subcategories to aid navigation. Take the Intellectual Property category as an example, where a suitable division is obvious: one for a General Overview, and then one each for Copyright, Trademarks, Designs and Patents.
• Topics: Each subcategory is divided into one or more topics. Each topic contains a varying amount of content in one scrollable page. In other words, a topic is the equivalent of a Wikipedia article. The intention is that each topic contains the level of information a user typically requires when researching a specific topic.
• Heading: The questions within a Topic are divided under Headings. The purpose of Headings is to help you navigate within a single page.
• Question and Answer: This is where you are likely to find what you are looking for. The Afriwise platform has a question and answer structure, which makes it intuitive and useful.

How does the Afriwise platform search engine work ?

A search bar is present on most parts of the Afriwise platform, enabling you to conduct a quick search whenever you want (see also “ How can I find the legal information I’m looking for on the Afriwise platform? ”.
The first thing to note is that your results depend on which page you are searching from:

• If you run a search from the dashboard, country or any Knowledge page, the platform assumes you are searching for legal information (Knowledge).
• If you run a search from any Expert page, the Platform assumes you are searching for local legal African Experts.

The second important point about the search function is that it is a keyword search and not a semantic search (which is basically a Google search). In other words, you must search our platform as you would search for something in a word or PDF document.

Our search function is quite restrictive in its current form, but we are hard at work improving it and new features are being released regularly. Watch this space. Nevertheless, our search rules are summarised below.

Where can I find a legal expert on the Afriwise platform?

When you navigate to a country page, the default view is knowledge-related. However, to the top right of each page is a toggle switch that allows you to change seamlessly between Knowledge and Experts.

It is important to note that when you click on the toggle switch, the list of Experts you will see will be filtered based on which country you were viewing when the switch was made. For example:

• if you were on the Kenya country page, you will see all Experts listed in Kenya; and
• if you were on the Business Structures page within Kenya, you will see all Business Structures’ related Experts from Kenya. You can undo this filter by clicking on the highlighted Category on the right side.

The list of Experts you see is simple. On the right, you can filter by Category, and on the left, you can filter by Industry/sector.  The number of Experts listed in each area can be overwhelming, please do not hesitate to contact us at subscribers@Afriwise.com for a recommendation.

What information on legal experts can I find on the Afriwise platform?

The Expert profile view allows you to view all the relevant information on the Expert you have selected. You can also click on the tab next to his/her name to view information about the firm where that Expert works.

Useful features to note here are:

• bookmark or compare the Expert;
• request an Introduction if you would prefer to be put in touch with the Expert by Afriwise; and
• where relevant, we have included Special Remarks on an Expert. For example, an Expert might be politically exposed or prominent in the relevant Country for some reason, and it could be important for a Subscriber to know this upfront. Note: these remarks apply only to Experts that have passed our due diligence screening process. Those that have not passed the process are not listed on the platform at all.

What other tools are available on the Afriwise platform?