We are pleased to share an important announcement about the future of our business.
Adili Group (Adili) and Career Connections are pleased to announce a joint venture to continue building and strengthening one of Africa’s largest integrated advisory and professional services firms. This strategic partnership will deliver end-to-end solutions across talent, strategy, corporate advisory, risk and governance. With over 150 years of combined experience, the joint venture aims to accelerate growth and expand solution delivery to more organisations, leaders, and teams, guided by a vision to extend transformational impact regionally and globally.
Adili Group is a leading pan-African corporate advisory firm with a presence in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, leveraging its regional footprint to serve clients seamlessly across borders and helping them navigate complexity. It is also an affiliate of ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna, East Africa’s largest full-service law firm.
Career Connections is a leading people consulting firm in East Africa that supports organisations in unlocking their people’s competitive advantage, enhancing effectiveness, and maximising the return on talent. It has served as a trusted advisor for 29 years.
A Partnership Built on Trust and Continuity
This joint venture is built on trusted relationships, shared capabilities, and continuity, while expanding the range of services we offer together. For our clients, this means seamless, integrated solutions delivered without compromise on quality. Adili will continue to offer its leading corporate, risk, cyber, outsourcing, reputation management & crisis PR, and strategy advisory services, alongside fiduciary support. In parallel, Career Connections will continue to deliver its expert people solutions, including executive search and board services, leadership development, coaching solutions, talent advisory and assessments.
For our people, this strategic partnership creates broader opportunities across markets, disciplines, and career paths, supported by greater resources, a shared culture, and a unified vision for growth.
Career Connections will continue to operate under the leadership of Managing Director Zia Manji and Founder Madeleine Dunford. The firm’s senior management team remains fully in place, ensuring continuity in strategic direction, purpose, and the trusted relationships you rely on.
Together, we now operate as one integrated professional services firm, upholding the same values and quality, now with a broader reach. This joint venture unites our shared vision to shape Africa’s future and drive transformative impact as trusted, integrated advisors to the continent’s leading organisations.
Speaking on the announcement, leaders from Adili Group and Career Connections reflected on what this partnership represents:
Karim Anjarwalla, Director, Adili Trustees and Senior Partner, ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna, “Africa’s most complex challenges demand firms that can walk alongside their clients across strategy, governance, talent, and legal advisory, all at once. That is the vision behind this joint venture. By bringing together Adili’s corporate advisory depth and Career Connections’ people expertise, we are building something Africa genuinely needs: a fully integrated advisory and professional services firm that can meet organisations where they are and take them where they need to go. This is not an expansion. It is a deliberate act of building the kind of institution that shapes markets, develops leaders, and endures across generations.”
Chris Diaz, Executive Chairman, Adili Group, “This joint venture represents a powerful strategic alignment at the highest level. Both Adili and Career Connections share a deep commitment to excellence, a respect for local expertise, and a shared ambition to transform the delivery of professional services across the globe. By combining our strengths, we are creating a partnership capable of driving meaningful impact for organisations, leaders, and teams across the region.”
Shital Shah, Chief Executive Officer, Adili Group, “This joint venture represents a significant step in Adili’s growth journey as we work towards building Africa’s leading integrated advisory and professional services firm. A key driver of this partnership is the depth of expertise Career Connections brings in people strategy, leadership development, and talent solutions, capabilities that are increasingly critical for organisations navigating today’s complex and fast-evolving business environment. Together with Adili’s strength in corporate advisory and transaction support, we are creating a stronger, integrated platform to support organisations across borders and deliver sustainable, long-term solutions. This joint venture combines complementary capabilities that enhance our offering without compromising what makes each firm unique.”
Zia Manji, Managing Director, Career Connections, “This joint venture stands firmly on a foundation of shared values and complementary strengths. Over my years leading Career Connections’ consulting practices, I have seen organisations confront challenges that demand integrated solutions across corporate advisory and people strategy. In Adili Group, we have found partners who share our commitment to integrity, professionalism and quality client service. This is a blend of global standards with deep local insights, a strong reputation built through resilience, and long-lasting legacy work that drives transformational impact. Together with ALN Kenya, Adili Group’s affiliate firm, this creates a uniquely integrated platform across Africa, combining legal, tax, advisory, and human capital expertise, enabling us to support clients not just in solving discrete challenges, but in delivering coordinated, end-to-end solutions across markets. Importantly, what remains unchanged are the trusted relationships, people, quality, and responsiveness that define Career Connections.”
Madeleine Dunford, Founder, Career Connections, “Over 29 years, the people and culture agenda has evolved to become central to organisational strategy. The leaders who head up these functions are critical members of their senior leadership teams. As a result, clients are increasingly investing in integrated talent solutions aligned with their business strategies. This joint venture with Adili Group responds to that evolution. We are combining Career Connections’ expertise in identifying and developing the best talent for its clients with Adili Group’s corporate advisory and governance capabilities and, through its affiliate firm ALN Kenya, legal advisory services across the continent. This creates what the regional market needs: a pan-African firm that delivers people and business solutions as interconnected drivers of organisational success. This is the professional services model Africa deserves.”
Please join us in welcoming Career Connections into the Adili family as we begin this exciting new chapter together.
We look forward to what we will achieve, together, across Africa.
