About ARMA
Built by African practitioners with global experience.
ARMA Risk Management Advisors has delivered risk advisory engagements for central banks, Tier-1 commercial banks, NBFIs, DFIs, and multilateral programmes across Africa for nearly two decades. Engagements have been delivered with the World Bank, IFC, USAID, GIZ, the Dutch Government, and the African Development Bank.
The firm is now repositioned around AI-augmented delivery — the same practitioner depth, at three to five times the throughput. Strategy-firm depth. AI-firm pace.
Nineteen years of practice. 200+ clients served. 15 African countries.
A heritage of African financial advisory
ARMA's practice begins in 2007 with the founding of Centerprise Africa, a pan-African financial advisory firm. In 2013, Africa Risk Institute was added to build pan-African training capacity. In 2020, the two firms consolidated into Africa Risk Management Advisors. The firm is now repositioned around AI-augmented delivery — carrying forward nineteen years of African financial practice, evolved for the speed and economics the present moment demands.
Our thesis
The convergence of three forces makes this the decisive moment for African financial institutions:
- Regulatory acceleration is compressing capability windows from years to months. ISSB / IFRS S1 & S2 adoption, EU CSRD spillover, and Africa-specific frameworks — CBK CRDF, SARB G3-2025, CBN NSFP, BoU ESG Framework, CBE FRA-36 — demand new capabilities on regulator-driven deadlines.
- DFI and investor capital is now conditional on demonstrable ESG, risk, and governance capability. IFC, AfDB, Proparco, CDC, and Norfund have moved capability assessment from "nice to have" to "precondition for funding." The compliance gap has become a capital-access gap.
- AI-augmented advisory has rewritten the economics of building these capabilities. Senior practitioner judgement, multiplied by AI throughput, delivers programmes that once cost $250K and took six months at $50K in eight weeks. The cost reduction comes from analysis throughput, not from reduced practitioner oversight — every ARMA deliverable is reviewed and signed by a senior practitioner before release.
ARMA is built for this moment.
Our delivery model: three sets of eyes, one signed deliverable
Every ARMA engagement is delivered through a three-layer model. Our AI consulting engine drafts every assessment, model, and report. Our accredited human bench reviews, redlines, and signs every artefact before it reaches you. Our senior practitioners set scope, frame conclusions, and bear ultimate accountability. The recourse you'd expect from a partner-led firm. The pace and price of an AI tool. Both, on the same engagement.
Every deliverable, signature, and decision is captured with timestamp, IP, and user-agent — ready for your internal-audit team and regulator examiner. The AI-augmented model does not reduce traceability; it strengthens it.
The bench
ARMA's advisory bench comprises credentialed subject matter experts across risk management, ESG, sustainable finance, trade and supply chain finance, regulatory compliance, governance, and strategy. Bench practitioners leverage AI-augmented analysis tools but ensure human review and sign-off on every deliverable. Every engagement is delivered through ARMA, with bench depth meaning we never staff outside our actual expertise.
Founder
Kefa Nyakundi founded the practice that became ARMA in 2007, beginning with Centerprise Africa's first advisory engagements for East African financial institutions. Over nearly two decades he has personally led strategy, risk, and trade finance engagements for central banks, Tier-1 commercial banks, and multilateral programmes across Africa. He is Managing Partner of ARMA, founder of Mtaji Technologies (a working capital marketplace fintech), and trustee of the Nyakundi Foundation.
His career in financial services spans nearly three decades. He began in banking as a Risk Analyst and progressed through Head of Collections & Recovery and Head of Credit roles before founding Centerprise Africa in 2007 — the practitioner grounding that shapes ARMA's three-layer accountability model.
Geographic footprint
Sub-Saharan Africa coverage: Kenya (HQ), South Africa, Nigeria, and Uganda.
Expansion priorities 2026-27: Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, and Ethiopia.
Work with ARMA
Interested in working with ARMA? Book a discovery call or view our services.