Privacy, confidentiality and terms
Plainly stated. If anything here is unclear, write to us and we will explain it rather than refer you back to the text.
Who we are
Arewaworld Network provides verification, market entry advisory and executive search services for organisations investing or operating in Nigeria and West Africa. We have staff in Kaduna, Kano, Abuja and Lagos, and a client desk in Istanbul.
For questions about this policy or about information we hold, write to privacy@arewaworld.com.
Client confidentiality
Client engagements are confidential. We do not disclose that an organisation is a client, what it engaged us to examine, or what we found, except where the client instructs us to or where we are legally compelled.
Where a mandate requires it, we will sign your non-disclosure agreement before receiving any information. If you would prefer to work under ours, ask and we will send it.
Two specific commitments worth stating, because they are the questions clients most often ask:
- We do not tell a counterparty that they are being verified, or on whose behalf, unless you instruct us to.
- We do not reuse a client's findings to sell services to a competitor, and we will tell you if we are asked to work on the opposing side of a matter we have already advised on.
Information we collect
From prospective and current clients, we collect the details you give us: name, organisation, country, sector, contact details, and whatever you tell us about the work you need. When you use the enquiry form on this site, that information is sent as a WhatsApp message to our Istanbul desk. Nothing is stored on this website.
From candidates in our executive search work, we collect professional history, qualifications, references and contact details — either because you gave them to us or because we approached you about a role.
During verification work we collect information about the companies and individuals we are engaged to examine. This is largely drawn from public registries, regulatory records, site inspections and reference interviews.
How we use it
- To respond to your enquiry and scope the work.
- To carry out an engagement you have instructed.
- To meet legal, tax and regulatory obligations in Nigeria and Turkey.
- For candidates: to assess suitability and, with your consent, to present you to a specific client for a specific role.
We do not sell information to anyone, and we do not send marketing to people who have not asked for it.
Candidates: your consent controls everything
If you are a candidate, your details are never sent to a client without your explicit consent for that particular role. Consent for one role is not consent for the next one. You can ask us to remove you from consideration or from our records at any time, and you never pay us a fee.
Who we share information with
We share information with third parties only in these circumstances:
- With your instruction — for example, introducing you to a counterparty you have asked to meet.
- With professionals we engage on your matter, such as Nigerian lawyers or accountants, under the same confidentiality terms.
- Where we are required to by law, regulation or a court.
Messaging and cross-border transfer
Our enquiry form opens WhatsApp on your device. WhatsApp is operated by Meta and its own terms and privacy policy apply to the message you send — we do not control them. If you would prefer not to use WhatsApp, write to hello@arewaworld.com instead.
Because our staff are in Nigeria and our client desk is in Istanbul, information you give us is likely to be accessed in both countries, and may be accessed from wherever a client is based. If your organisation requires specific data-handling terms for a jurisdiction, raise it before the engagement and we will accommodate it in the engagement letter.
How long we keep things
Engagement files are retained for as long as we are required to keep them for legal, tax and professional purposes, and then deleted. Enquiries that do not become engagements are deleted once it is clear they will not proceed. Candidate records are kept only while you want to be considered for roles.
Your rights
You can ask us what information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, or object to how we are using it. Write to privacy@arewaworld.com and we will respond within thirty days.
Depending on where you are, you may have rights under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, Turkish law, the UK or EU GDPR, or other regimes. Where more than one applies, we will apply the standard most protective of you.
This website
This site sets no analytics or advertising cookies and does not track you across other sites. Fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, which means your browser makes a request to Google's servers when a page loads.
Terms of engagement
- Fees. We are paid a fixed fee for defined work, agreed in writing before the work begins. We do not take commission, percentages or equity in transactions we assess.
- What a report is. Our reports set out what we verified, how, when, and what we could not verify. They are professional findings, not a guarantee of a counterparty's future conduct and not legal, tax or investment advice. You should take advice from qualified professionals in the relevant jurisdiction before committing capital.
- Limits of verification. Nigerian public records are incomplete and some information cannot be confirmed at any price. Where that is the case we say so rather than infer. Our reports should be read as at their stated date.
- Adverse findings. We report findings that count against a transaction on the same terms as findings that support one. This is not negotiable and is the reason our fees are not contingent.
- Governing law. Engagements are governed by the law stated in the engagement letter for that mandate.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. Material changes affecting a live engagement will be raised with you directly.