Nizar Manek is Managing Director at Periplus Research, an advisory firm providing contextual insight and strategic advice in under-examined markets across Africa, the Middle East, and frontier Asia. Drawing on long-standing interlocutor networks, he has worked for over a decade on mandates across infrastructure, resources, and energy transitions.

Periplus advises institutional clients on market and stakeholder insight, government relations and political risk, and transactions and dispute resolution—addressing asymmetries for decision-making, negotiations, and scenario planning. Its methodology integrates political, economic, and industry networks across provincial centres and governmental institutions in 80 jurisdictions.

Before founding Periplus, Nizar developed network assessment methodologies relied upon by top-tier strategic advisory firms under confidentiality frameworks in hundreds of mandates. Previously, he led coverage of the Horn of Africa, Red Sea, and Gulf for Bloomberg News and Businessweek, and covered North Africa, West Africa, and the Sahel for Africa Confidential. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, Jane’s Intelligence Review, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Le Monde Diplomatique, and the London Review of Books, receiving recognition including from the European Press Prize, Overseas Press Club of America, and Transparency International. He has lectured to specialist audiences and contributed to academic literature through Routledge and Harvard’s Center for International Development.

A UK citizen now based in London, Nizar has lived and worked in Addis Ababa, Cairo, Tunis, Istanbul, Yerevan, Athens, and New York. He studied at the London School of Economics, Columbia University (Law and Business Schools), and SOAS, with regional language certifications at Boğaziçi University, the Armenian School of Languages & Cultures, and Koya University. His professional qualifications include OSCE accreditation and specialised training in civil and commercial mediation.