Rebel East Africa celebrates seven years: ‘We’ve managed to expand because of our strong relationships with clients.’
When Rob Winters started Rebel East Africa almost seven years ago, he was the only ‘Nairobian Rebel’. Now, seven years later, the Nairobi office is a team of ten, and counts climate impact, health care, transport and water among its major sectors. To celebrate their anniversary, the team looks back on the road to success and tells us what the future holds.
Before Rebel Rob Winters moved to Kenya to set up an office in Nairobi, he had been working from the Rotterdam office. For a while now, he and his partner dreamed of living abroad, ready for a new challenge. ‘Nairobi emerged as one of the most beautiful places we could both work,’ he says. Still, he didn’t want to leave Rebel. ‘Since Rebel encourages entrepreneurship, I decided to set up a new venture.’
Being honest about his ambitions to colleagues in Rotterdam helped, as they too, started thinking about how to make it happen. When his partner got a job in Nairobi, the Rebel adventure kicked off. ‘It was a leap of faith’, Rob remembers. ‘I had to figure everything out as I went along.’
Doing things differently
As in other markets, Rebel was going to do things differently in Nairobi. ‘Rebel is unique in its approach and culture. We stick to our values, such as excellence in everything we do, transparency and a non-hierarchical structure. It’s important not to compromise on the quality of people or the execution of the work. Otherwise, there is no point in working under the Rebel logo.’
Still, bringing the Rebel culture to Nairobi was no easy task. ‘In a business environment that is more hierarchical, it is not always easy to build a non-hierarchical workplace. You can implement a framework, but translating it into culture is more difficult.’
Empowerment through in-house training
The office has embraced a good model of training young ambitious local people in-house. Over time, the team has also hired some staff from abroad. ‘It helps us to build and train people together, and it accelerates our growth’, Rob says.
Today, Rebel East Africa (REA) has ten employees! An early milestone came when Rob hired the first employee to join him in 2019. ‘It was great to finally have a colleague’, he recalls. Together, they were more than just the sum of their parts, working more effectively on projects than they could have done alone.
After almost seven years, REA has a solid base to build on. ‘Our recruitment position is much stronger because of the strong reputation of our firm in Kenya and the region. And highlighting the major projects we’ve done makes us stand out and attract young talent.’
One of those young talents is Prashiv Shah, who joined Rebel in 2023 from a Big Four firm in London, its culture greatly appealed to him: ‘The non-hierarchical structure is an interesting way of doing things, and I learn a lot by working closely with my most experienced colleagues on a daily basis. It also increases the quality of our output as everyone’s involved.’
Despite its limited size, REA has already shown its potential to make an impact. ‘Kenya is my home and I was excited about making a big impact in the developing nation’, says Prashiv, who specializes in infrastructure finance, financial modelling and PPPs, among other things. Moreover, Rebel’s global presence allows it to leverage different skills and points of view. ‘We can pull together a strong team regardless of where a project is based.’
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Gradual, but steady growth
To Rob, a highly selective recruitment and a gradual growth trajectory proved the key to early success in Nairobi. ‘We have always prioritized delivering high-quality work, even when it occasionally placed significant pressure on our young team. But we always managed to expand, and still do, because we build and sustain relationships with clients.’
Clients appreciate Rebel’s transparency, its honesty when it comes to timelines and expectations, and its style of communication, Rob says. ‘We’re informal when we can be, and formal when it’s necessary.’
When the office had a launch party after one year, the encouraging words of a Kenyan county health official indicated REA was on the right track, Rob recalls: ‘We asked three clients to speak briefly about working with us. This official said Rebel was about keeping promises, delivering quality, and being down to earth. That was very nice to hear.’
Prashiv considers Rebel’s navigation of an ever-changing political landscape to be one of its biggest strengths: ‘A cabinet shuffle can mean a government suddenly has an entirely new perspective on sectors such as water or transportation. Making sure projects continue to align and do not get lost in the shifts of the political sphere is a major challenge. But REA has built strong relationships with key stakeholders over the years. The market knows we can deliver regardless of the political situation.’
One project highlight was the feasibility study REA did for a large new hospital on Kenya’s coast, which resulted in a lot of exposure for the firm. More importantly, the project’s potential impact was huge, as people in the coastal region currently have limited access to care. Prashiv seconds that: ‘This project has been one of my personal highlights. Seeing a lot of hard work come together in a high-quality report for decision-makers was a proud moment.’
Another major win – also for the regional work – was the Blended Finance Study on Infrastructure Projects in Rwanda. For FCDO Rebel supported the government in mobilizing new sources of development finance. The work – together with our South African colleagues – was a great opportunity to apply lessons from elsewhere in a country that has achieved impressive growth rates over the past decade but that still needs a lot of investments.
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A fully engaged team
A strategy weekend three years after REA’s founding showed just how far the team had come. For the occasion, the Rebels gathered in Naivasha, where they were surrounded by giraffes, zebras, and other wildlife. Rob remembers it fondly: ‘It felt great to strategize in such a special setting. Everyone had worked so hard and felt fully engaged. The team shows a lot of initiative and entrepreneurship, which gives enormous energy. We have developed an inspiring African-influenced Rebel culture. The fact that we’ve managed to set up a sustainable office in a challenging environment, contributing to creating jobs and delivering real projects, is something I’m very proud of.’
In the future, Rob envisions a team of around twenty people, with 70% being local. ‘In the next five to ten years, there will be tremendous growth opportunities for everyone in our team, as there are so many skilled, talented people and there is so much impactful work to do in the region.’
In terms of projects, big opportunities lie in the water sector, where Rebel increasingly acts as a developer, and in climate finance. ‘We are working with investors and banks to encourage them to invest more in these sectors, which will have tremendous impact.’
REA has built strong local relationships with a diverse group of experts from lawyers to engineers, says Rob. ‘These ties allow us to cast our net across a variety of sectors, and will allow Rebel to continue to work with a wide range of clients.’
Prashiv also sees REA continuing to grow and expand in the region. ‘I see Rebel continue to build a strong brand in the industry here, like the Rotterdam office has in The Netherlands.’
The team is excited to continue growing, seizing new opportunities, expanding our impact. Together we are looking forward to the next chapter!
