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Our Companies

Five companies. One standard.

One parent, and separately constituted operating companies — so a counterparty always knows precisely which entity it is contracting with. Each has its own management, accounts and licences, and each does its own work rather than passing it on.

How the group is structured

What the holding company does — and what it does not.

The holding company itself does not broker transactions. Its work is capital allocation, board oversight, a single group compliance standard, custody of the brand, and the shared finance, legal and people functions that let each operating company concentrate on its own market. It also builds the next company: when a capability is asked for often enough, we constitute it properly rather than sub-contract it.

What it does

  • Capital allocation — funds each operating company, sets its budget, and decides where new capital is deployed.
  • Governance — appoints the board of each operating company, sets delegated authority limits, and approves budgets and major contracts.
  • A single compliance standard — one KYC, AML, sanctions-screening and anti-bribery policy, written once and applied identically everywhere.
  • Brand and service standards — the same standards of documentation, reporting and client communication in every company.
  • Shared services — finance, legal, HR, IT and marketing run once for the group.
  • New ventures — incubates new operating companies, and acquires established local firms where that is faster and safer than building.

What it does not do

  • It does not broker transactions, trade goods, or hold client funds. Those sit only in the companies licensed to carry them out.
  • It is not a party to an operating company's contracts and does not guarantee their performance, unless it issues a written parent guarantee for that specific transaction.
  • It does not take an undisclosed position in any mandate run by an operating company.

The flagship

Horn Plus Brokerage

The company most clients deal with. It holds the mandates, signs the contracts, and carries the relationship from first enquiry to settlement — across seven brokerage lines, each available on its own or combined into a single mandate.

01

Trade and commodity brokerage

Matching international buyers and suppliers with verified counterparties, and taking the transaction from first enquiry to delivered goods.

  • Price discovery and sample and specification verification
  • Supplier capacity assessment and negotiation
  • Incoterms 2020 structuring and contract drafting support
02

Freight and logistics brokerage

Booking, routing and supervising the physical movement of goods across the region's ports and corridors.

  • Ocean FCL and LCL, breakbulk and project cargo, air freight, cross-border trucking
  • Carrier and forwarder selection, rate negotiation, transhipment planning
  • Warehousing and bonded storage, loading supervision, cargo tracking, last-mile delivery
03

Customs, clearance and regulatory facilitation

Getting goods legally and predictably across the border, with a documentary file that will withstand inspection.

  • HS tariff classification, duty and levy estimation, import and export permits
  • Certificate of origin, phytosanitary, halal and health certification
  • Pre-shipment inspection coordination, demurrage and detention management
04

Market entry and local representation

For international companies that want a presence in East Africa without opening an office on day one.

  • Market and pricing studies, distributor, agent and dealer search
  • Counterparty vetting and KYC, joint-venture partner identification
  • Tender and RFP monitoring, licensing guidance, office setup, local recruitment
05

Investment and project brokerage

Introducing capital to projects, and projects to capital, across the region's growth sectors.

  • Ports and logistics infrastructure, energy and renewables, agro-processing, fisheries
  • Deal origination and screening, sponsor and partner introductions
  • Feasibility and market-sizing support, negotiation support through to signing
06

Trade finance and insurance introductions

Making sure the money and the risk cover are in place before the goods move.

  • Letters of credit, documentary collection, bank guarantees, escrow and staged payments
  • Marine and cargo cover, goods-in-transit, warehouse, political and credit risk
  • We are a broker and introducer — we do not provide finance, hold client funds, or act as an insurer
07

Real estate and asset brokerage

Commercial property, industrial land and heavy assets for companies establishing or expanding operations.

  • Warehousing and cold storage, commercial and office space, development land
  • Title and ownership verification, lease and purchase negotiation
  • Plant, equipment and fleet acquisition or disposal

The rest of the group

Four further operating companies.

Each licensed, staffed and accountable for doing the work itself rather than passing it on.

Horn Plus Logistics

Where the brokerage arranges a movement, Logistics performs it. The distinction is deliberate: as a broker we act for you and are paid a fee; as a forwarder we take the job and are accountable for the service itself.

  • Freight forwarding — ocean FCL and LCL, air freight, breakbulk and project cargo, coastal and feeder services
  • Corridor haulage — Berbera–Togwajaale, Djibouti–Addis Ababa, Mombasa Northern and Dar es Salaam Central corridors
  • Warehousing and storage — general, bonded and cold storage, consolidation, inventory handling
  • Customs and port operations — clearance at both ends, documentary preparation, demurrage management
  • Distribution — last-mile delivery, including into difficult access areas for commercial, humanitarian and institutional consignees

Horn Plus Trading

Own-account import, export and distribution — for goods where the market needs a principal who takes the position, not an intermediary who arranges it.

  • Import — food staples, building materials, plant and equipment, vehicles and spare parts, solar and power products, FMCG
  • Export sourcing and aggregation — livestock and chilled meat, frankincense, myrrh and natural gums, sesame and oilseeds, hides and skins, marine products
  • Wholesale and distribution — dealer, wholesaler and retailer supply, consolidated container programmes, brand distribution agreements
  • Stockholding — buffer inventory held against contract supply, tender delivery and seasonal demand

Horn Plus Investments

The group's capital, projects and assets — and the vehicle through which Horn Plus invests alongside its clients rather than only advising them.

  • Project development and co-investment — energy and renewables, agro-processing, logistics infrastructure, healthcare, education and housing
  • Real estate — commercial property, warehousing and cold storage, industrial and development land
  • Equity holdings — stakes in the group's own operating companies and in selected third-party businesses
  • Owned assets — warehousing, fleet, plant and equipment made available to the operating companies and to clients

Horn Plus Technology

The group's engineering arm. It builds the systems Horn Plus itself runs on, and delivers the same capability to clients who need to modernise how they trade, move goods and get paid.

  • Trade and logistics platforms — client portals for quotations, mandate tracking, milestone reporting and document storage; cargo and fleet tracking
  • Business systems — ERP, accounting, inventory, point-of-sale and HR systems selected, implemented, migrated and supported
  • IT infrastructure — networks and connectivity, cloud migration, backup and disaster recovery, email and endpoint security
  • Digital payments — integration between mobile money, regional payment systems and bank settlement
  • Data and reporting — market, pricing and corridor data, management dashboards and board reporting
Where the group has an interest, you are told first. Horn Plus Trading can be a possible counterparty on a mandate run by Horn Plus Brokerage. Where that arises, the interest is disclosed to the client in writing before any introduction is made, the client is shown competing options from outside the group, and the client decides. The same rule applies to Logistics quoting against third-party forwarders and to Investments participating in a project the brokerage originated.

Not sure which company you need?

Send us the requirement and we will tell you which of our companies will sign.

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NextSectorsWhere our mandates actually land. AlsoHow We WorkThe seven stages of every mandate. BackAbout Horn PlusThe group, its governance and its values.