About Us

Frontiers International Consulting LLC

Frontiers International Consulting is a premier technical advisory and business facilitation firm. We deliver technical advisory services in Go to Market and Global Expansion, business development, economic development, and project management. We serve project sponsors and developers, corporations, private sector organizations, and government entities worldwide. With deep international experience spanning Europe, Africa, the United States, and Asia, we bring a global perspective to every engagement.

Our Mission

To deliver outstanding client service, provide fulfilling careers and professional satisfaction for our people, create sustainable employment opportunities, and achieve financial success that enables us to grow and serve more clients globally.

Featured Project Examples

GOPA AFC (Germany) - Developed new market acquisition and blended finance strategy for this German-based company. Identified strategic partnerships across Africa and facilitated relationships with funding institutions while creating proposal methodologies to acquire new and existing clients.

Quality Flow (USA) - Secured a $240,000 contract for this American water treatment company, enabling market penetration and technology promotion in healthcare facilities across Africa and the Caribbean.

Noble Energy (now Chevron) - Designed a comprehensive capacity development program for local and international businesses to partner in large-scale infrastructure projects, focusing on sustainable urban development. Engaged with key stakeholders including Bechtel in their capacity as embedded partners within the Ministry of Infrastructure of Gabon.

Global Voice (USA) - Successfully led this telecommunications company's market penetration into Tanzania by facilitating public-private sector partnerships. Arranged strategic meetings with senior officials including the Minister of Telecommunications and Minister of Foreign Affairs, while navigating regulatory challenges and parliamentary resistance in Dodoma.

Gruppo Pefaco (Spain) - Facilitated this Spanish leisure company's successful entry into the Ethiopian market through strategic meetings with key decision-makers including the Minister of Tax and Revenue, while providing guidance on local laws and regulations.

Multiple African Markets - For Interstate Mining (Tanzania), Allied Aviation (USA), JBC International (US customs modernization), and Barcode Industries (USA), delivered comprehensive market size assessments, proposal development, and international business facilitation consulting across various African markets.

Sakanam (Senegal) - Provided integrated project management, branding, and strategic advisory services.

Photo Gallery

• Events & Conferences – Participation in key global and regional forums.

• High-Profile Meetings – Engagements with senior leaders and international partners.

• Office & Team – A look inside our professional environment and collaborative culture.

Our Team

Bahgi Berhane – Founder & CEO

Bahgi Berhane is a dynamic leader respected for 17+ years for guiding and implementing multi-million dollar public and private sector deals and forging strategic partnerships for high-profile organizations such as the World Bank‘s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Noble Energy (presently Chevron Corporation) and GOPA.

Bahgi has spearheaded financial products for large-scale programs amounting $4 Billion in Africa. Her work has fundamentally reshaped how development finance institutions, governments, and private sector players. She successfully prepared bankable projects and unlocked substantial financing towards projects through her innovative deal structuring skills. She uses best practices to conceptualize/lead high-impact partnerships, public policy reforms, program design and implementation. Her expertise is defined by a rare combination of public-sector programmatic design and private-sector entrepreneurial execution. She leverages on her deep relationships and thrives in representing organizations and programs through her exceptional business development skills. She is an out of- the-box thinker and possesses an entrepreneurial spirit, who ensures the best possible results and impact for portfolios and policy strategy.

Through Frontiers International Consulting (FIC), a consulting firm that she founded, she guides clients in investment advisory, blended finance transactions, project design, and implementation. She specializes in bridging the gap between early-stage project origination and institutional financial close. Her firm’s work leverages a powerful network,including membership in Convergence Blended Finance, to unlock capital for projects in infrastructure, energy, transport, and climate resilience.A key differentiator of Ms. Berhane's career is her exceptional ability to forge high-impact partnerships and advise on public policy reform at the highest levels.

Trusted

Dr. Barry Shapiro– Sr. Advisor/Sr.Consultant

Alphonse Ibi KOUAGOU is a seasoned executive and development finance professional with over three decades of experience across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. He spent 22 years with the World Bank Group, including roles as Executive Director, and has extensive experience in emerging markets, particularly in structuring finance investments and working with private sector clients and government officials.

Alphonse specializes in complex greenfield infrastructure projects, utilizing diverse financial instruments to enhance project bankability. He has also contributed to portfolio management at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and developed critical frameworks for integrating risk mitigation strategies into investments.

His competencies include infrastructure investment, portfolio management, and executive board representation. Through Ibi International Finance Ventures, he provides consulting services focusing on social, environmental, and governance (ESG) aspects, working with sponsors to develop bankable projects that facilitate growth.

Mr. Kouagou holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and a BS in Accounting from Marymount University. He is a USA Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and plays a key role in economic development initiatives in Africa.

Alphonse Kouagou– Sr. Advisor/Sr.Consultant

Dr. Barry I. Shapiro is a distinguished economist and international development specialist with over 35 years of experience advancing economic growth across Africa and Asia. His expertise spans agricultural production and marketing, agribusiness investment and incubation, livestock sector development, and strategic policy advice.

As Senior Livestock Development Advisor at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Dr. Shapiro led the development of Livestock Master Plans for Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uzbekistan, and Bihar State, India — strategic investment roadmaps that mobilized over $8 billion in public and private funding to lift millions of rural households out of poverty. These plans were funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and the FAO.

Dr. Shapiro has held senior leadership roles at globally recognized organizations, including Senior Vice-President at CNFA (Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture), Regional Director for Africa and Asia at ICRISAT (part of the CGIAR network), and Country Director for dairy business development with Land O'Lakes. He is also the founder and former CEO of the Agri-Science Park at ICRISAT, which successfully incubated 110 new agribusiness enterprises.

A prolific researcher and communicator, Dr. Shapiro has authored or co-authored over 100 publications, including more than 25 peer-reviewed journal articles and a book on agricultural development strategy published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University and a BSc and MS from Texas A&M University.