Advice about government relations is often too abstract to use. “Build trust.” “Engage stakeholders.” “Respect local culture.” All true, and almost useless when you are sitting in a hotel in Abuja or Nairobi wondering who to call first.

So in this piece, I want to do something more practical. I will walk through a single illustrative project, from first idea to signed partnership, and show where government relationships are won or lost at each stage.

The project is a composite, drawn from patterns I see repeatedly in my work as a cross-border business strategist based in Dubai. I connect international investors and institutions with African governments and decision-makers in healthcare, energy, education and technology. The details below are simplified, but every lesson in them is real.

The scenario

A Gulf healthcare group wants to build a network of diagnostic centres in a fast-growing West African state. It has capital, clinical expertise and experience running similar facilities at home. It has no presence in the country and no existing relationships with government.

Here is how the journey unfolds.

Stage 1: The first phone call

Within weeks of announcing its interest, the group receives several offers of help. One stands out. A well-dressed intermediary says he can arrange a private meeting with a senior official within days. His fee is substantial, payable upfront, and he prefers not to put the arrangement in writing.

This is the first real test, and many investors fail it.

The offer looks like speed. In reality, it is a trap. Access bought this way depends entirely on one person’s position, which can change overnight. It exposes the company to anti-bribery laws in its home country, which apply to conduct abroad. And it signals to every serious official, development bank and co-investor that the company is willing to take shortcuts.

The group declines. Instead, it asks a different question: who could help us understand this market properly, and work through the official channels?

The lesson: The difference between paid access and earned access is decided in the first few weeks. Paid access feels fast and ends badly. Earned access feels slow and lasts.

Stage 2: Learning what the government actually wants

Working with an adviser who knows both the Gulf and the country, the group spends its first two months listening rather than pitching.

It reads the state’s health strategy and budget. It discovers that the state government has committed publicly to expanding early diagnosis of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and to reducing the number of patients who travel abroad for basic tests. It learns that the federal health ministry is pushing for private investment in diagnostics, and that the state’s finance commissioner is under pressure to avoid new public debt.

None of this information is secret. It is published. But most investors never read it.

The group also registers with the national investment promotion agency, which explains the approvals the project will need and the incentives available.

The lesson: Government is not one actor. The governor wants visible results. The health commissioner wants targets met. The finance commissioner wants no new liabilities. Regulators want compliance. Communities want access and jobs. A proposal that speaks to all of them is far stronger than one aimed only at the person at the top.

Stage 3: Redesigning the proposal

The group’s original plan was simple: build ten centres in the state capital, charge market rates and ask for land and tax incentives.

After listening, it changes the proposal.

It now plans six centres, including two outside the capital where services are scarcest. It proposes a structure in which the state provides land under a long-term lease, while the group funds construction and equipment, so the state takes on no new debt. It includes a training programme for local radiographers and laboratory technicians. And it offers discounted screening days in partnership with the state’s health insurance scheme.

The project is still commercial. But it is now clearly built around what the government has promised its citizens.

The lesson: Lead with how your project helps officials deliver their commitments. Then discuss what you need. Investors who arrive with a list of requests are forgotten. Investors who arrive with solutions are invited back.

Stage 4: The first meetings

The group’s first meetings are not with the governor. They are with technical directors in the health ministry, the head of the state health insurance scheme and the investment promotion agency.

These meetings are less glamorous, but they are where the real work happens. Technical teams test the assumptions, raise practical concerns and suggest improvements. By the time the proposal reaches the commissioner, and then the governor, the officials around them already understand it and support it.

When the senior meeting finally happens, it takes forty minutes, not twenty. The conversation is about timelines and next steps, not whether the project makes sense.

The lesson: Build support from the technical level upwards. Senior leaders rely on their teams. If the teams believe in your project, the leadership is far more likely to back it.

Stage 5: Proving credibility

At one point, a senior official asks the question every new entrant eventually faces: “Why should we believe you will deliver?”

The group answers with evidence. It shows its operating record at home. It confirms its financing. It introduces its local partner, an established healthcare operator with a clean track record. And it commits to a first centre within twelve months, with clear milestones that the state can monitor.

This is the part of government relations that I understand most personally. My own credibility with officials in Nigeria was not built through introductions. It was built through delivery. I spent more than a decade building a six-branch business there, managed from Dubai. I trained more than 3,000 young women through Float Women’s Circle. And I delivered a government-funded training programme for 500 participants in one state, with every result documented and reported. That track record opens doors in a way that no contact list can.

The lesson: Officials have heard many promises. What they remember is delivery.

Stage 6: Making it last

The partnership is signed through a formal framework agreement, with clear roles, timelines and reporting obligations. The group sets up quarterly progress reviews with the health ministry and publishes simple updates on patients served and staff trained.

Eighteen months later, there is a new health commissioner. The project continues without interruption, because it is anchored in a formal agreement, supported by technical teams and producing visible results. The new commissioner asks whether the group would consider expanding to two more locations.

The lesson: Relationships with individuals matter, but relationships with institutions endure. Put commitments in writing, report consistently and build support across several levels of government.

The role of the trusted bridge in this story

Look back at the scenario and notice the turning point. It came at Stage 1, when the group chose to work with someone who could help it understand the market, rather than someone who promised to sell it access.

That is the role of a good cross-border business strategist. Not to open doors through favours, but to help both sides understand each other well enough to build something that works.

In practice, that means helping investors read government priorities, identify the right institutions, shape proposals that meet public goals and commercial needs, and engage through the proper channels in the right order. It also means helping African officials understand what investors need before they can commit capital with confidence.

A good strategist is transparent about their role, works within the law and is judged by partnerships that last.

A practical checklist

The bottom line

Building government relationships in Africa is not a mystery, and it is not about who you know. It is a disciplined process of listening, aligning, proving and delivering.

Investors who follow that process find governments eager for credible partners. Those who look for shortcuts find that the shortcut usually leads nowhere.

For many investors, the most valuable step is the first one: choosing to work with an experienced cross-border business strategist who can guide them through the right doors, in the right order, for the right reasons. Everything else builds from there.

Safiya Umar is a Nigerian entrepreneur and cross-border business strategist based in Dubai. She connects international investors and institutions with African governments and decision-makers, facilitating Africa investment in healthcare, energy, education and technology. She is the founder of Float Beauty, which operates six branches across Nigeria, and Float Women’s Circle, which has trained more than 3,000 young women.