Overview
Afriwise provides legal research, regulatory monitoring and compliance management across African jurisdictions. The platform covers 45+ countries, including Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, and the company states its coverage spans 85% of Africa's economy. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered at Avenue Louise 292 in Brussels. It has 51-200 employees. The leadership team includes Kim Hawkey as Chief Content and Product Officer, Christophe Bostyn as Chief Operations Officer and Pierre-Yves Thomas as Chief Technology Officer. The content is maintained with 180+ partner law firms across Africa and holds 25,000+ searchable laws and bills. Named customers include Unilever, CBRE, Barloworld, DHL, Ecobank, Mastercard, M-KOPA, PepsiCo, MTN, L'Oréal, Roche, Merck, Deloitte and IDC.
Stated facts & numbers
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: Brussels
- Employees: 51-200
- Founder and CEO: Steven De Backer
- Coverage: 45+ African countries, 180+ partner law firms
- Customers: Unilever, DHL, Mastercard, MTN, PepsiCo, L'Oréal, Roche, Deloitte, Ecobank
Leadership & org chart
In the news
- What happens to regulatory oversight when AI moves from answering questions to executing tasks across your enterprise systems? Join Beulah Luttig alongside Kezia Talbot (Senior Compliance Specialist at Discovery Limited) and Rianne Potgieter, CA(SA), CProf(SA), ICCP (CEO of IFCA- International Federation of Compliance Associations) for an interactive session hosted by the Compliance Institute Southern Africa, proudly sponsored by Afriwise. We'll dive into: • How access controls and auditability shift when AI acts directly on
- A regulatory change lands. The summary tells you what’s changed, and the business wants to know what it means for them by the end of the week. But you don’t advise on a summary. You want the instrument itself: the exact wording, the commencement date, the section that actually applies. So the search starts. The regulator’s website. The government printer. A message to a contact in-country. Sometimes it takes an hour. Sometimes it doesn’t turn up at all. How much of your week is spent on finding the document, rather than reading
- Rules recalibrate while executives deliberate. Here is how the legal playing field changed this week. 🔵 Delivering sustainable business growth requires managing the human side of performance just as rigorously as the balance sheet. At the CFO South Africa 2026 Finance Indaba, our CFO, Dawid Swart CA(SA) breaks down why empathy, vulnerability, and active listening are the ultimate force multipliers for modern leadership. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀: Ethiopia Dentons highlights strict new beneficial ownership disclosure
- For many legal teams, the budget meeting ends the same way this year: the number stays the same. The work doesn’t shrink. The business still expects fast turnaround. The team is the size it was. And regulation in every market you cover keeps moving. You’re not alone. “Stay the same” was the most common budget answer in our GC Forum survey, and turnaround time and headcount came up as the hardest KPIs to hit. That’s where Afriwise comes in: the law, the local practice, the regulatory change and the in-country experts, from one
- Before founding Afriwise, I was a practising attorney. I’ve tried to carry that service ethic into how we operate: be available, listen carefully and help clients find a way forward. Today, an enterprise client wrote to me about Sarah, one of our account managers: “Sarah has consistently demonstrated professionalism, accessibility, patience, flexibility and a genuine commitment to finding solutions that met our requirements while balancing Afriwise’s commercial considerations.” And this: “This level of customer focus reinforces
- Afriwise' CFO, Dawid Swart, on stage at the Finance Indaba 2026, speaking on the resilient finance team. Rumour is he accrued the applause and will recognise it over the next 12 months 😃. Well done Dawid.
- Most legal AI tools break down across Africa for a simple reason: they can’t query what isn't on the web, and static databases can't tell you how a rule is actually enforced. Across the continent, both leave you stranded. But it can be done differently, catering for African realities. We built Afriwise to bring the whole picture into one place: Primary Law + Ground Reality: Clean, searchable statutes paired directly with practical guidance from 170+ top-tier local law firms. Grounded AI + On-the-Ground Experts: Plain-English
- Static assumptions don't last in dynamic jurisdictions. Here is how the legal climate evolved across African markets this week. 🔵 Delivering trusted data infrastructure across the continent takes relentless innovation and partnership. We are thrilled that Afriwise has been shortlisted for the 2026 Africa Global Funds Awards! On the heels of our IFLR Tech Innovation wins and the rollout of Lexiwise, this milestone reflects our commitment to powering African growth with legal intelligence. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀:
Alumni
Steven BackerFounder & Managing Director, AW Consult (Pty) Ltd
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