EKP Infrastructure Advisors
Infrastructure Advisory · Africa & Southeast Asia

Closing Africa's
Infrastructure
Delivery Gap.

EKP Infrastructure Advisors turns viable infrastructure concepts into bankable, closeable transactions — across water, power, and hydropower — from first feasibility through to financial close.

Request a complimentary 2-day diagnostic → View mandate structures
USD 2.48T
African infrastructure investment need to 2040 · OECD 2025 ↗
<10%
of Africa's infrastructure projects reach financial close · McKinsey, cited by PMI ↗
USD 2B+
infrastructure capex pipeline managed at principal level · 2020–23
Representative experience
500+ MW
Hydropower pipeline · East & Southern Africa · 2020–23
50,000 m³/day
Naivasha bulk water · USD 50M · 2025–26
USD 77M
Farm-in executed to close · Gabon · 2014
10+
African sovereigns & multilaterals
negotiated at principal level
Complimentary · First Engagement

2-Day Project Diagnostic & Bankability Assessment

A structured two-day review of your project materials — not a meeting. You receive a frank, operator-grade written assessment of bankability gaps and a prioritised action plan toward financial close. Complimentary, with no obligation.

Report covers
  • Preparation & bankability gap
  • Capital stack architecture
  • DFI & government readiness
  • Key commercial & political risks
  • Priority actions to financial close
How it works
  1. Send your project materials using the request below.
  2. Receive a written report within 2 working days of complete materials.
  3. Optional next step — any follow-on work is scoped separately.
Who it is for

Water, power and hydropower projects in Africa seeking DFI or commercial finance, with feasibility-stage documents available.

Availability

A limited number of diagnostics are offered each month.

Confidentiality

NDA available on request. Project materials are not shared with third parties.

Conflicts

Any conflict of interest is declared before work begins.

Request the diagnostic →
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Closing the gap
Five structural market failures — and how EKP addresses each
8–9 yr avg. from project identification to implementation · DBSA ↗
The Project Preparation Gap
Feasibility, environmental assessment, and risk analysis are chronically underfunded. Projects sit idle for nearly a decade before capital moves.
Operator-grade preparation from concept to bankability — no handoffs, no gaps.
Private sector = 3% of PIDA PAP1 commitments to 2020 · AUDA-NEPAD ↗
Blended Finance Mis-structuring
Very few practitioners can architect a stack integrating concessional capital, DFI debt, political risk instruments, and commercial equity into a single investable transaction.
Direct capital stack development across water and hydropower in Africa — DFI term sheets, blended finance windows, and government negotiation handled at principal level.
USD 68–108B annual infrastructure financing gap · AfDB ↗
The Operator–Capital Divide
DFIs cannot assess operational viability. Developers cannot speak to capital providers on their terms. Viable deals die in this gap.
As active developer and IC member, EKP sits on both sides simultaneously.
Chinese lending to Africa down 90%+ from 2016 peak · Boston University data, 2024 ↗
Retraction of Traditional Intermediaries
BRI has contracted sharply. ODA advisory budgets are being cut. The layer that historically prepared African projects is hollowing out, leaving orphaned deals.
Independent practitioners with live DFI relationships fill this gap directly.
Coordination = first of three execution blockers · BCG 2025 ↗
Government PPP Capacity Gap
Governments lack the capability to structure competitive PPP tenders or negotiate with sophisticated investors. Deals are captured, derailed, or abandoned.
Negotiated with ministers and DFI counterparts directly across 10+ African markets.
Why these failures compound
Poor preparation causes information asymmetry. Asymmetry mis-structures the finance. Mis-structured finance fails at IC. Failed deals deepen the ODA retraction. Addressing all five in a single mandate is disproportionately more effective than five separate advisers.

Figures as published by the sources linked on each card; accessed September 2026.

Start here
Complimentary 2-Day Project Diagnostic
Free · Entry point
A written bankability assessment and prioritised action plan from your project materials.
Four mandate structures

Each engagement is scoped to the transaction and handled personally by Dr Ernest Kofi Poku.

Project Origination & Development
Retained · Co-Developer
Taking a concept to a bankable project: developer and consortium structuring, and DFI-ready preparation.
Blended Finance & Capital Stack
Deal Advisory · Structuring
Capital stack design across concessional funding, DFI debt, risk instruments and equity, through to term sheets.
PPP Structuring & Execution
Developer · Capital Partner
Tender structuring, consortium formation and government negotiation for water and power PPPs.
Independent Portfolio & IC Review
NED · IC Adviser
Independent review of pipelines and investment proposals for funds, DFIs and boards.
Prior Transactions & Experience
Consortium agreement and deal structuring for an early-stage bulk water project serving the Naivasha industrial corridor. Lead developer for Africa Water Infrastructure Development; chaired the project steering committee and led the deal.
Retained as strategy consultant to develop the business plan and IP protection strategy for a battery storage and power stabilisation start-up operating across Africa and Southeast Asia. Delivered a three-month mandate covering market positioning, commercial strategy, and IP filing in the Kenyan market. Mandate converted to a Non-Executive Director appointment on the strength of the engagement — providing ongoing strategic governance and market development advisory to the founding team.
Steering Committee member from the 2021 preferred-bidder stage through the 2022 Relationship Agreement between Scatec ASA, IFC, EDF, and the Government of Malawi — one of Sub-Saharan Africa's largest hydropower transactions in active development.
Developed and managed a 500+ MW hydropower pipeline across four markets at SVP level. World Bank, IFC, and DFI financing terms negotiated directly. Also led evaluation of floating solar opportunities co-located on hydropower reservoirs across East and Southern Africa.
VP-level P&L responsibility for a USD 40M revenue gas and condensate asset in Kalimantan. New field brought on-stream in 2016; government approval secured for a 10 mmscfd expansion.
Led the USD 77M farm-in of OMV into Ophir's Gabon exploration blocks, from term sheet to close. Subsequently negotiated OMV's exit from the consortium after the exploration campaign.
About the Principal

Dr Ernest Kofi Poku has spent three decades on the operator's side of energy and infrastructure deals, and now sits on the investor's side of the table too.

He began as a drilling engineer, closed a USD 77M farm-in in Gabon for Ophir Energy, then ran its producing gas asset in Indonesia. Since 2020 his focus has been African hydropower and water. At Scatec ASA (2020–23) he led a 500+ MW hydropower pipeline, worth more than USD 2 billion in capex, across the DRC, Rwanda, Madagascar and Malawi, negotiating directly with ministers, the World Bank and IFC.

As Executive Director of Africa Water Infrastructure Development (2023–26) he ran a USD 20M+ revenue water business producing 60,000 m³ a day in Egypt and Rwanda, and secured the lead-developer role on the Naivasha bulk water project.

Since 2023 he has also been a Non-Executive Director and Investment Committee member at AECF, a USD 300M blended finance fund. That combination is what EKP is built on: someone who has developed and operated projects, and who knows how funders decide. His DFI relationships are direct and recent — IFC, World Bank, AfDB and Proparco, across Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana and Egypt.

Start with a complimentary 2-day diagnostic.
To discuss a project, a mandate, or the diagnostic — reach out directly. Every enquiry is handled personally.
Dubai, UAE