Economics

New Market Entry Solutions

Build the foundation of intelligence that enables successful entry to emerging markets

Whether you are sizing an opportunity in a market, choosing the right local partner, communicating with local government stakeholders or mitigating against future risks, businesses require quality data and analysis to support informed decision making. This is especially true in emerging markets, where the information landscape can often be opaque, and data is often incomplete or simply lacking.

Our Market Entry solutions provide an intelligence-led approach to new market entry that allows our clients to build new ventures and scale them in emerging markets. Our analytical team of country and sector experts and consultants gather forward looking intelligence that fills the information gaps in your market entry strategy.

Support through all stages of market entry:

Identify the right markets and quantify the profitability of your investment
Understand country-specific political, security, operational, compliance, economic risks and regulatory landscape
Know your partners, stakeholders, and political exposures
Monitor sentiment shifts, relevant risk events, and political change
Spot new risks, plan against credible alternative scenarios, and quantify impact to your business

Featured solutions

Country Risk Investment Model

Accurately forecast, quantify, and compare the financial viability of new investments and existing business activities by sector and project type

LEARN MORE

Macroeconomic Due Diligence

Plan and prepare for alternative futures with economic analysis and modelling designed to identify realistic and high impact scenarios that could impact your investment.

LEARN MORE

Integrity Due Diligence & Integrity Consulting

Understand counterparty risk with forward-looking analysis of reputational, legal and political risks associated with new or existing partners

LEARN MORE

Social and Economic Impact Assessment

Comprehensive assessment of jobs and economic activity due to ongoing business operations or changes in market environments, policies, or infrastructure investments.

LEARN MORE

Stakeholder and Influence Mapping

Work with us to identify the organizations and individuals with influence and decision-making power critical to your business success

LEARN MORE

Connect with an expert

Karim El Assir

As a member of the Economics & Country Risk consulting team, Karim is responsible for advising clients on strategies to build and scale business abroad, particularly in emerging markets. He also provides guidance around understanding the political and operating landscape of markets in the Middle East and Africa and assessing and mitigating counterparty risk to support mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Karim joined IHS Markit from KPMG, where he led the MENA desk on its Corporate Intelligence team, providing clients with advisory services in the region. These included helping to develop new market entry strategies, gathering on-the-ground intelligence to assess the extent of a company's exposure to a variety of non-financial risks, and managing compliance and reputational crises post-market entry. Karim's previous professional background is in political risk. Prior to joining KPMG, he helped start a political and economic risk consultancy based in Cairo, where he led the firm's research on the political environments of several Middle Eastern states. Karim has degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the University College of Maastricht, and has lived and worked in Egypt, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

View Profile

Nathalie Wlodarczyk, Ph.D.

Her team is responsible for delivering forward-looking political, industry and economic assessments for government and private sector clients to support strategic planning and business growth. Dr. Wlodarczyk has more than 15 years of experience working on both methodology development and assessment delivery for Economics and Country Risk, as well as forecasts in the private and public sectors. She has supported clients on market entry and risk management for emerging markets for over a decade and has led projects across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. She adds particular expertise in analyzing cultural drivers of behavior and decision-making, in particular for mapping of influence groups and dynamics. Dr. Wlodarczyk has a background working in building capacity for conflict resolution in locations with civil conflict, often in Africa. Formerly she was head of Africa Forecasting for Exclusive Analysis, now part of IHS Markit. She has written several articles and book chapters about the impact of belief and culture on behavior in conflict, and she is the author of the book, "Magic and Warfare: Appearance and reality in contemporary African conflict and beyond," published in the US by Palgrave Macmillian. Dr. Wlodarczyk has taught contemporary security issues at UK universities, including the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and King's College London (KCL). Dr. Wlodarczyk attained her Ph.D. in War Studies at KCL, and she holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in International Relations from London School of Economics (LSE), United Kingdom.

View Profile

Natznet Tesfay

Her areas of specialization include analysis of political developments affecting the offshore energy sector in West Africa, particularly Nigeria; commercial developments, especially in mining, energy, and infrastructure in East Africa; and piracy risks in the Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Guinea. Ms. Tesfay leads the development of the Africa risk indicator and horizon scanning infrastructure, drawing on a range of methodologies such as geospatial analysis and scenario modelling techniques. Natznet supports business growth across the continent, advising C-level executives on market entry, stakeholder engagement and risk management, and African governments on leveraging their natural resource potential for sustained economic growth. In 2017, Natznet was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She regularly speaks in major media outlets and at high-level conferences. Previously, at Exclusive Analysis she managed the Africa intelligence team of in-country analysts and sources, as well as Exclusive Analysis's Johannesburg office. She also advised municipal governments on sustainably developing megacities and national governments on the development of free trade zones, foreign policy and the mining sector in East Africa. Ms. Tesfay's degrees include a BA in Government from Harvard University and a MSc in Urbanization and Development from the London School of Economics.

View Profile

Carlos Cardenas

Carlos Cardenas, Director of Latin America Country Risk Analysis and Forecasting, is responsible for the generation of commercially relevant political and violent risks forecasts for a variety of sectors in Latin America, including energy, manufacturing, mining and insurance. He manages a team of Latin American experts, as well as a remote network of contributors based in the region, covering risks such as expropriation, non-payment, contract frustration, civil unrest, business disruption and security-related risks (extortion, kidnapping, crime and terrorism). Mr. Cardenas has also worked and delivered numerous consulting projects for a variety of clients interested in understanding the role of stakeholders and risks at the project level in Latin America. His areas of expertise include petroleum policy and economics, public governance in natural resource rich countries, international relations, criminal dynamics in Latin America and political economy. He holds a BA in International Studies from Universidad Central de Venezuela (Magna Cum-Laude), an MA in International Political Economy from Birmingham University (distinction) and an LLM in Petroleum Law and Policy (distinction) from Dundee University.

View Profile

Deepa Kumar

Ms. Kumar leads political, operational and security risk analysis for multiple Asia-Pacific countries, primarily India, Myanmar and Nepal, as an analyst for the IHS Markit Country Risk team, having previously also covered Indonesia and Malaysia. Her areas of expertise include electoral politics, stakeholder analysis and assessing changing regulatory dynamics in emerging economies. Previously, she was an entrepreneur in New Delhi focused on promoting participatory policymaking by facilitating dialogue between members of parliament and citizens in India. Ms. Kumar holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. She also holds a First-Class Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with minors in English literature and Economics from the St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. She is fluent in English and four Indian languages including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Gujarati, and a beginner in Arabic.

View Profile

Anton Alifandi

Anton is responsible for political risk analysis on Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste.Anton rejoined the country risk team at IHS Markit in August 2019 after two years heading the ASEAN team at Financial Times Confidential Research. He had a 20-year career in journalism beginning his career at the Jakarta Post in Indonesia before moving to the BBC in London. He has also worked as a political risk analyst in Singapore.Anton graduated from London School of Economics with a degree in Political Science (MSc) and Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (BA); Anton is fluent in English and Indonesian.

View Profile

Rafael Amiel, Ph.D.

Dr. Amiel is a director in the Economics and Country Risk Group for Global Insight at IHS Markit. He brings 20 years of international experience in macroeconomic and sovereign risk analysis of Latin America gained over a long career tracking economic developments and business cycles of the region with a focus on risks for medium- and long-term investment. He coordinates the group's analysis and forecasts and is responsible for reporting on Peru, Mexico, and Brazil. As a sovereign risk expert, he closely monitors and tracks repayment capacity of Latin American economies, assessing both short- and long-term risks. Prior to joining IHS Markit, he served as the country risk manager for Hamilton Bank. Previously, he was a research associate at the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, US.Dr. Amiel earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Universidad de Lima in Peru. He completed his Master of Arts in Business and Economics at the State University of New York - Stony Brook, and went on to attain his doctoral degree in economics at FIU, where he served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Economics.

View Profile

Firas Modad

Mr. Modad focuses on the conflict between Turkey, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia and how it shapes security and political risks in the region and terrorism risks in the West. He has also studied the rise of Islamist militant and non-militant groups, their ideology, their capabilities and their communication strategies. Currently, he is focused on the risk of another wave of unrest in MENA, the migrant flows it would trigger and its impact on terrorism. Mr. Modad has briefed executives and directors in insurance the insurance and energy sectors, as well as C-level executives at blue chip firms with interests and operations in MENA. He has helped clients understand the rise of the Islamic State, the conflicts in Libya, Syria and Iraq, risks in Egypt and the conflict between Israel, Iran and the Arabs. Mr. Modad also makes regular appearances on the media, and has been interviewed by Reuters, Bloomberg, the BBC, CNN, ABC News, and others. Mr. Modad holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, and a Master of Science in International Management for the Middle East and North Africa from the University of London in the United Kingdom.

View Profile

Thea Fourie

Thea is the Team Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa, Economics, IHS Markit. She is also responsible for analyzing, forecasting and reporting on economic developments in the Southern Africa region (South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia among other countries). Previously she was a financial economist at ING Barings, specializing in macro and financial economic analysis of the South Africa economy and was also the head econometrician at ABSA Bank. She earned a bachelor's degree in Econometrics (Honors) from the University of Pretoria. Her expertise includes sovereign risk analysis, econometric modelling and analyzing key developments within the Sub-Saharan African region and reporting through report writing and presentations. Thea is fluent in English and Afrikaans.

View Profile

Alex Kokcharov

Alex Kokcharov is responsible for country risk analysis of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia and Tajikistan. He provides in-depth political and security risk analysis including producing regular publication of risk forecasts and analysis, advisory briefings, and tailored reports. Alex has over fifteen years of experience in data-driven business and political journalism and country risk analysis. He has particular expertise on Russian and Ukrainian political, business and energy developments. He has lived in Belarus, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Russia, Germany and the UK. Alex speaks English, Russian, German and Belarusian fluently, has a working knowledge of Ukrainian and speaks basic Polish. He has a Masters in Geography and Economics from Belaruski Dziarzhauny Universitet in Minsk and studied for a PhD in Human Geography at the University of Oxford.