Our Work

Liberia’s SEZ development was fragmented with weak alignment across ministries, unresolved governance constraints, and legal ambiguity — undermining predictability for investors and the AfDB-funded SAPZ program.

We delivered a structured policy review combining desk review of priority policies and laws, a trade policy diagnostic, stakeholder consultations, and gap and solutions matrices with a reform framework.

Developed an actionable roadmap to reduce SEZ program risk, coordinated the governance and regulatory framework, and provided the basis for pilot-led implementation with an M&E function.

Liberia’s investment performance remained constrained with FDI inflows below US$100 million per year. Cross-cutting delivery constraints included fragmented mandates, limited digitization, inconsistent enforcement, and heavy centralization in Monrovia.

We served as NIC/MOCI’s technical partner to execute a structured review of the legal, policy, and administrative foundations of Liberia’s business climate — covering 14 priority processes across business entry, investor permissions, licensing, land, and trade facilitation.

Reviewed business environment laws, regulations, and administrative procedures across G2B services, including trade, quality, and business entry. Identified cumbersome processes, recommended legal amendments and digitalization reforms, and hosted public-private dialogues and stakeholder validation workshops.

Ethiopia’s administration of investment incentives created significant friction — manual workflows, limited digitization, repeated information requests, multiple non-value-added reviews, and direct applicant-to-officer interactions.

We mapped and baselined 46 processes across participating institutions, identified bottlenecks and integrity risks, redesigned workflows, and delivered implementation recommendations including electronic submission and workflow automation.

Delivered major efficiency gains including duty draw-back reduced from 70 to 4 days and incentive letter processing from 4 days to 1 day.

Businesses faced high compliance costs and unpredictable timelines. The diagnostic confirmed structural issues: limited digital services, unclear eligibility criteria, non-standardized applications, reliance on informal brokers, and poor inter-agency coordination. Private sector satisfaction was only 8%.

We applied a structured BPM/BPR methodology — mapping As-Is workflows, conducting private sector interviews, benchmarking against global good practice, and designing To-Be processes emphasizing simplification and risk-based controls.

Supported IFC country teams in implementing business environment reforms in Fiji, PNG, and Timor-Leste. Delivered prioritized reform areas, legal amendments, and business process maps across agribusiness, tourism, and health sectors.

Construction permitting in Fiji was fragmented and manual across local authorities. Permit approvals often took 2–3 months in practice, far exceeding reported best-case processing times.

We delivered a structured BPM diagnostic combining virtual mapping sessions with process owners, private sector validation workshops, and a gap analysis across SCC, NTC, LCC, and DTCP.

Established quantified baselines of steps and processing times per authority and identified high-impact reforms including process harmonization, online submission, and risk-based processing. Streamlined administrative processes to a 20 step / 8 day baseline; NTC baselined at 26 steps / 19 days.

Uganda Revenue Authority needed to strengthen domestic revenue mobilization while improving the taxpayer experience. URA prioritized simplification of core tax procedures (VAT, income tax, payroll tax) to reduce compliance costs and address investment climate constraints.

We implemented a structured BPR methodology — mapping and re-engineering 8 priority domestic tax functions — and developed a costing model to identify the administrative cost of providing these services.

Delivered major efficiency gains including audit processing reduced from 65 to 18 days and registration from 14 to 3 days. Produced approved To-Be process maps, a costing model, and an action-oriented recommendations matrix.

Tanzania’s Revenue Authority faced taxpayer pain points: fragmented registration identifiers, high-touch manual compliance steps, and payment and clearance frictions that increased administrative cost and constrained trade facilitation.

We applied a BPR lens to design reforms including consolidated taxpayer onboarding, a shift to e-services, modernization of payment rails, and risk-based compliance for domestic taxes and customs.

Consolidated TIN/VAT identifiers, expanded e-filing, and modernized customs payments. Produced validated To-Be process maps and an actionable reform agenda for domestic tax and customs functions.

The tax administration faced high compliance costs for taxpayers and a high administrative burden for the DGI, driven by manual processing, duplicative controls, and fragmented workflows.

We applied a structured map-measure-reengineer methodology including As-Is process mapping, To-Be process design, ICT assessment, and stakeholder input — covering registration, filing, payment, VAT refunds, and audit.

Mapped As-Is processes across priority functions, quantified compliance burden, and identified opportunities for streamlining and digitalization. Produced an implementation-ready reform report with redesigned process maps and prioritized recommendations.

The Lesotho Revenue Authority sought to shift from enforcement-led collection toward voluntary compliance. Achieving this required understanding the behavioral barriers shaping whether individuals and businesses register, file, and pay on time.

Apex and The Decision Lab implemented a tiered behavioral research program using the COM-B framework — combining household surveys (52), SME surveys (30), focus groups with large taxpayers, and structured interviews across ~20 LRA functions.

Identified low perceived benefit as the primary compliance barrier and delivered actionable recommendations for communications, friction reduction, and trust-building.

Papua New Guinea introduced the Small Business Tax to simplify compliance. Most micro and small firms were not registered or paying income tax, and the IRC lacked a reliable database of the target population for outreach and implementation planning.

We supported the IRC with a pre-implementation diagnostic — using a random sample of 304 micro and small businesses in the National Capital District (90% confidence, 5% margin of error) through face-to-face and phone interviews.

Established a compliance and awareness baseline, finding that 77% viewed SBT as fair after explanation and 72% would register. Delivered targeted outreach and communications recommendations.

Bangladesh’s NBR was implementing the SAP-based IVAS to improve transparency. NBR faced delivery risks: IVAS functionality shortfalls, weak taxpayer registry data quality, and limited capacity to manage the vendor and conduct quality assurance.

We delivered an IVAS functional assessment, taxpayer registry quality control (sample of 60,090 records), business process mapping, and training on QA and testing protocols.

Found only 58% of RFP requirements met and delivered six QA training sessions for NBR VAT Wing staff. Produced an IVAS Assessment and Reform Action Plan, a registry cleansing plan, and standard operating procedures.

DG Tax’s ability to detect under-reporting was constrained by incomplete third-party data. Key data providers were reluctant to share bulk data due to differing legal interpretations, non-standard agreements, inconsistent identifiers, and weak data quality controls.

We delivered a legal and regulatory assessment of the third-party data framework, stakeholder interviews and FGDs, and international benchmarking.

Produced standardized MoU templates, a future-state system-to-system integration approach, and a recommendations matrix to strengthen audit selection, investigations, and compliance risk management.

Investors in Bangladesh were required to interact with more than 23 public institutions before commencing operations — often visiting each agency separately and submitting the same documentation multiple times.

Apex led a consortium to deliver the end-to-end OSS design package: mapping and re-engineering 32 regulatory processes across 11 agencies, producing conceptual OSS design and architecture, an SLA framework, a capacity building plan, and a public outreach campaign plan.

Delivered OSS architecture covering business registration, tax, environmental clearance, construction permits, and work visas, plus a legally-binding SLA framework with monitoring dashboards and a five-step public outreach campaign.

Pakistan Customs was pursuing a major modernization program. Achieving this required an evidence-based baseline of As-Is processes, alignment to WCO standards, and translation of redesigned processes into system requirements integrating with PSW and WeBOC.

We applied a structured BPM/BPR methodology: operating model review, validated business process mapping with volume and time data, standards-based gap assessment, and translation into BRS, SRS, solution design, and integration specifications.

Delivered Business and Solution Requirements Specifications for the Pakistan Single Window and WeBOC systems, BPMS knowledge transfer, governance mechanisms, and implementation-ready system design artifacts.

The Government set ambitious titling targets. LaoLandReg had been deployed broadly, but uncertainty existed about system readiness for nationwide digital operations across provinces and districts.

We implemented a quantitative and qualitative ICT assessment covering network, connectivity, hardware, software, data management, cybersecurity, and ICT staffing — surveying 16 in-person and 108 phone respondents across 130 planned offices.

Surveyed 124 provincial and district land offices and diagnosed critical integrity and continuity risks — only 31 of 108 offices had dedicated ICT staff. Produced two costed modernization options with national rollout budgets (Option 1 direct submission: ~$101,790/year savings; Option 2 web-enabled: eliminates maintenance burden).

AccèsBanque Madagascar’s Quick AB microloan process remained burdened by manual interventions, fragmented tools, limited traceability, inconsistent processing-time measurement, and infrastructure disruptions constraining scalability.

We executed a phased methodology combining desk review, on-site diagnostic, and co-creation workshops — producing As-Is process maps with time and handoff data, To-Be process redesign, a digitalization blueprint, and an implementation enablement package.

Streamlined loan request to decision from 6.9 to 3.8 hours (44% faster) and total processing time from 9.8 to 6.5 hours (33% reduction). Delivered a digitalization blueprint covering OCR, eligibility automation, a field app with geolocation, and automated SMS.

IFC required a structured way to identify credible private-sector sponsors and investable opportunities in South Sudan, where reliable company data is limited and market intelligence is fragmented.

We combined secondary research with intensive primary data collection — applying IFC’s LCI tools to screen and shortlist companies using investment-oriented criteria including financial performance thresholds and early-stage integrity screening.

Conducted sector deep dives across agribusiness, manufacturing, and services. Produced ranked scorecards, investment memos for top-10 candidates, and validated sector roadmaps linking constraints to near-term pipeline opportunities.

IFC required a fact-based analysis for priority sectors and an understanding of what would realistically unlock investment at scale — covering market dynamics, constraints, export potential, and the financing landscape.

We conducted sector deep dives covering market dynamics, demand and supply trends, export potential, policy framework, infrastructure constraints, and value chain mapping with gender and climate lenses — validated with public and private stakeholders.

Delivered a decision-ready basis for sector prioritization, a validated roadmap with actionable steps, and a framework to coordinate IFC, government, and partners around near-term deals and longer-term market development.

IFC was considering expanding operations in Djibouti and required reliable, investment-oriented market intelligence to identify bankable private-sector sponsors and prioritize promising sectors for transaction development.

We implemented IFC’s Local Champions methodology: secondary research, primary data collection and private-sector engagement, LCI mapping and screening across MAS sectors, and financing and legal diagnostics.

Built a company database, produced top-5 shortlists per sector, and delivered investment memos for the top 10 priority leads to strengthen IFC’s pipeline.

Guinea’s mining sector generates fiscal revenues, but the existing incentives regime risked creating market distortions that weakened the competitiveness of local SMEs — limiting the potential for forward and backward linkages from major upcoming mining investments.

We applied a structured incentives diagnostic: comprehensive incentives stocktaking using a WBG template, legal and policy analysis, international benchmarking, and a validation workshop with the WBG, Government, and private sector.

Built a comprehensive incentives inventory across legislation and agencies, identified market distortions harming local SME competitiveness, and delivered a reform-oriented diagnostic with recommendations and an updateable online incentives database.

GEPICO faced operational constraints affecting cost, quality, and competitiveness: rejected sales orders due to product nonconformity, recurring production downtime, weak preventive maintenance execution, and inconsistent raw-material inspection.

We applied a structured BPR methodology — mapping and validating 7 end-to-end As-Is processes (Sales, Procurement, Warehousing, Production, Maintenance, Traceability, Quality) — then conducting gap analysis and developing an implementation-ready Action Plan.

Delivered an implementation-ready Action Plan addressing machine performance issues, preventive maintenance gaps, and quality control weaknesses, benchmarked against best practice.

The client needed a decision-grade business case for entering the US FMCG market by exporting selected brands to specific consumer segments in Michigan, New York, and California.

We executed a rapid market study combining desk research, market scanning in targeted states with store-check analysis, competitive and channel analysis, and joint client workshops to validate internal readiness and shape a realistic entry roadmap.

Quantified priority geographies, assessed category attractiveness, proposed a sales mix, and recommended a phased expansion strategy.

Moldova’s decision-makers lacked clear, comparable evidence on what it costs to deliver the minimum package of social services across the country’s 14 regional centers under the National Agency for Social Assistance (ANAS).

We conducted a comprehensive cost efficiency analysis — mapping service delivery models, analyzing operational and administrative costs, reviewing staffing and resource structures, and benchmarking efficiency across the 14 ANAS centers.

Calculated cost-per-beneficiary and efficiency metrics, identified structural drivers of inefficiency (low occupancy, high fixed costs, salary inequity), and delivered recommendations informing Moldova’s deinstitutionalization strategy and community-based care reforms.

Developing countries face significant revenue losses from cross-border tax avoidance. Existing OECD and EU MDR models are resource-intensive and not tailored to developing-country capacity constraints, legal frameworks, or technology limitations.

We developed a modular, practical MDR design framework — including comparative analysis of 11 MDR regimes and a structured review against 100 design questions — covering scope, hallmarks, reporting responsibilities, timing, and compliance measures.

Engaged tax authorities and finance ministries globally and produced a practical modular framework for Mandatory Disclosure Rules tailored to developing-country capacity constraints.

SMEs in developing countries are disproportionately exposed to corruption risks. Enforcement-only approaches have a limited deterrent effect. The assignment focused on how external incentives can help SMEs adopt anti-corruption compliance practices.

We conducted a structured study combining evidence review and comparative case analysis — developing a typology of external incentives (reputational, economic, administrative) and analyzing international good practices across 7 countries.

Delivered a practical blueprint for preventive, pro-compliance incentive design, finding that bundled incentives drive the highest adoption rates. Country case analysis covered Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Philippines, South Africa, and Nigeria.

Guinea’s artisanal gold sector is largely informal — creating losses and leakage across the value chain. The suspension of the export tax during 2016–2022 contributed to an estimated US$167.3 million in foregone fiscal revenues.

We implemented a field-validated diagnostic combining legal and fiscal review, institutional analysis, and on-site operational assessment across 8 artisanal mining sites in Mandiana, Siguiri, and Kouroussa prefectures.

Mapped the artisanal gold value chain from extraction to export and quantified revenue leakage of ~$27.9M per year. Delivered a sequenced reform package covering a re-established export tax mechanism, a Guichet Unique to centralize financial formalities, and operational reforms to strengthen field oversight.

Madagascar’s natural resource sectors contribute below-potential revenues — driven by informality, weak control of value chains, fragmented parafiscal charges, and gaps between policy design and collection capacity. The tax-to-GDP ratio was 11.2% against an Africa average of 16.6%.

We delivered a cross-cutting fiscal expenditure review and sector deep-dives in mining, fisheries, and forestry — mapping applicable fiscal instruments, reviewing legal frameworks, and identifying leakage points.

Identified revenue leakage including mining export under-declaration of 15–20%. Delivered four decision-ready reports — a general tax expenditure review and three sector reports — with actionable reform recommendations.