The counterparty cannot be verified
We carry out registration, licence, capacity and reference checks, screen against international sanctions and PEP lists, and visit the premises before any introduction is made.
A message from our Managing Director
East Africa is no longer a frontier the world watches from a distance.
It is a market of more than 300 million people, sitting on the shipping lane that carries a large share of global trade between Asia, the Gulf and Europe. What has been missing is not opportunity. It is a reliable point of contact — someone on the ground who can be held accountable by both sides of a transaction.
Horn Plus was built to be that point of contact. When an international company wants to buy from, sell to, ship through or invest in this region, our brokerage finds the counterparty, verifies that they are real and capable, structures terms that both sides can sign, and stays with the transaction until goods are delivered and payment has settled. When a local business wants to reach a global buyer, we do the same in reverse.
We are organised as a holding company rather than a single firm, and that is a deliberate choice. The requests our clients bring us do not stop at the edge of a broker's mandate — they need the freight moved, the goods held, the project capitalised. A group structure lets us build each of those capabilities as a properly constituted company with its own licences, accounts and management, instead of quietly sub-contracting work we cannot stand behind.
Horn Plus was founded in 2021, but the judgement behind it is older than the company. The people who built this group carry more than ten years of combined business and consulting experience across East African markets, and most of what we know about how a transaction fails here was learned before Horn Plus existed.
If your business belongs on one side of that bridge, we would like to hear from you.
Abdukadir Abdi
Managing Director, Horn Plus
Why the group exists
Most failed transactions here fail for the same handful of reasons.
Every company in the group is organised around removing them.
Specifications do not survive the journey
We agree technical specification, inspection regime and rejection criteria in writing before the order is placed, and appoint independent pre-shipment inspection where value justifies it.
Payment risk sits entirely on one side
We structure settlement through instruments both parties can accept — letters of credit, documentary collection, escrow or staged payment — with partner banks and regulated transfer corridors.
Documents are incomplete at the port
We prepare and check the documentary set — bill of lading, certificate of origin, packing list, phytosanitary and health certificates, inspection reports — before the vessel sails, not after it berths.
Nobody owns the problem when it goes wrong
One named Horn Plus manager owns the mandate end to end and reports on agreed milestones until settlement is complete.
Vision, mission and values
Integrity before volume.
Vision
To be the most trusted commercial bridge between the global economy and the African continent — beginning at the Horn, and built company by company.
Mission
To make trade, logistics and investment between international companies and East African markets straightforward, verifiable and repeatable — by finding the right counterparty, structuring terms both sides can sign, and standing behind the execution. Where a capability is missing, we build the company that supplies it rather than leaving the client to find it.
Our brokerage takes no undisclosed position in the deals it introduces. Where any part of the group holds an interest that touches a mandate, you are told in writing before you decide, shown competing options from outside the group, and left to make the call.
Integrity before volume
We would rather lose a mandate than complete one we cannot stand behind. An introduction from Horn Plus is a statement that we have checked.
Local depth, global standards
Somali, Ethiopian and East African market knowledge, delivered through international contract, documentation and compliance practice.
Speed with diligence
Fast is only useful if it holds. We move quickly on sourcing and slowly on verification — and we tell you which stage we are in.
Confidentiality
Client identities, pricing, margins and sourcing are commercially sensitive. We treat them that way, under NDA, as standard.
Shared prosperity
Every transaction we broker should leave a local business stronger and an international client better served. We prefer partnerships that repeat over margins that do not.
Governance, compliance and risk
Our standing position, applied identically in every company.
International counterparties need to know how we are governed before they can transact with us.
What we do on every mandate
- Know Your Customer and customer due diligence — on both sides of a transaction, with documentary evidence retained on file.
- Sanctions, PEP and adverse-media screening — against United Nations, OFAC, EU and UK lists before any introduction or booking.
- Anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing controls — including source-of-funds enquiry and reporting obligations under applicable law.
- Anti-bribery and anti-corruption — we do not offer, pay or facilitate improper payments, and will withdraw from a mandate rather than participate in one.
- Conflict-of-interest disclosure — any interest Horn Plus or its officers hold in a counterparty is disclosed in writing before an introduction.
- Contractual standards — Incoterms 2020, UCP 600 for documentary credits, written specification and inspection terms, and a named governing law in every contract we support.
- Insurance — we require cargo to be insured for its full value and will not recommend an uninsured shipment.
What we will not do
Being explicit about this protects our clients as much as it protects us.
- Introduce a counterparty we have not been able to verify, without labelling it as unverified.
- Broker goods subject to sanctions, embargo or export control, or any trade in weapons, ammunition or dual-use military items.
- Handle narcotics, protected wildlife or products of illegal extraction, or any trade prohibited under CITES.
- Facilitate customs undervaluation, misdeclaration of goods, or the falsification of certificates or origin.
- Take custody of client funds, provide finance in our own name, or guarantee a counterparty's performance.
- Act for both sides of the same negotiation without the written consent of both.
Let's build the next success story — together.
Whether you want to buy, sell, invest or enter East Africa, we're here to help.