Retail
Modern-trade chains, e-commerce platforms and franchise networks across East Africa.
Understanding the retail operating environment.
Franchise structuring, consumer-protection enforcement and commercial-lease jurisprudence continue to evolve. The maturing e-commerce segment introduces fresh IP, data and tax questions that traditional retail counsel was not designed to answer.
Modern-trade operators are renegotiating lease portfolios in a softening market, franchise networks are extending into secondary cities, and digitally-native brands are pushing into omnichannel models that compress the boundary between retail, payments and logistics. Each of those moves touches commercial-property, IP and consumer-law risk in the same instruction.
Our retail practice combines corporate, real-estate, IP and disputes capability so that lease, brand, supply and operator-conflict issues can be triaged together. Discretion matters in this sector, particularly when a single dispute can disrupt a national rollout, and we run those situations quietly.
- Franchise structuring
- Consumer protection
- Lease negotiation
Opportunities we structure and protect.
How our practices serve this sector.
Corporate & Commercial
End-to-end counsel for the lifecycle of a modern African business.
EXPLOREIntellectual Property
Securing, defending and commercialising the ideas that build businesses.
EXPLOREConveyancing & Real Estate
Discreet, end-to-end real estate counsel for serious property transactions.
EXPLOREWhy retail clients choose us.
Partners leading this industry.
David Tenge
Partner. Wide-ranging litigation and advisory experience built across leading public-interest, oversight and private practice institutions.
SEE FULL PROFILE
Topua Lesinko
Partner. Advises on constitutional law, M&A, public procurement and election disputes across Kenya and the region.
SEE FULL PROFILESector commentary and updates.
IP Enforcement Across African Markets: A Coordinated Strategy
Trademark, copyright and anti-counterfeiting actions only work when sequenced regionally. Here is how.
Real Estate Title Diligence: New Registry Practice Notes
The Lands Registry has issued fresh practice notes , here is what conveyancers should adjust immediately.
East African M&A: Where Capital Is Moving in Q1 2026
Sector flows, deal structures and the regulatory choke-points shaping mid-market M&A in East Africa.
Sector questions, answered.
Can you structure master-franchise agreements?+
Yes, both inbound and outbound across East Africa.
Do you handle commercial-lease portfolios?+
Yes, including renegotiation, exit and dispute work.
Can you protect brands regionally?+
Yes, through ARIPO, OAPI and direct national filings, with coordinated enforcement against counterfeit and grey-market activity.
Do you advise omnichannel and e-commerce operators?+
Yes. We work across consumer-protection, payments, data-protection and logistics-contracting issues that traditional retail counsel was not designed to answer.
Can you handle operator and partner disputes discreetly?+
Yes. We routinely run sensitive operator-conflict matters quietly, with a clear preference for commercial resolution where it does not prejudice the long-term position.
Talk to counsel who knows this sector.
Whether you require a confidential consultation or a free case evaluation, our partners are ready to listen.