DevPartners: A Partnership Built for Global Development Impact

For years, development sector teams have faced a familiar tradeoff: global firms often bring global connections but limited in-country context, while local partners offer deep relationships and expertise but may lack access to global tools and systems. Bridging that gap has rarely been easy. 

This challenge came into focus in a crowded stairwell at the 2019 ICTforAg conference in Washington, DC. When Matt Manning and Ridwan Sorunke struck up a conversation between sessions, they discovered their complementary visions could address a fundamental gap in the development sector – the need for partnerships that combine authentic local leadership with global connections and technical capabilities. 

Matt went on to form DevGlobal, a global professional services firm that operates at the intersections of data, technology and innovation to improve lives worldwide. Ridwan founded Dev-Afrique Development Advisors, an African-led, Africa-based social impact organization with a commitment to solving Africa’s toughest challenges. Today, united as DevPartners their strategic union creates a new model for development work that spans continents. 

“Our collaboration started just as a two-minute conversation, but we both knew we were onto something different,” recalls Ridwan Sorunke, Principal Executive of Dev-Afrique. “We saw how two companies and approaches could, together, offer what the sector needed.” 

Today, DevPartners  is a close, flexible working partnership. Team members in Lagos and Washington, Nairobi, and London operate as one unit. Both organizations have the skills to lead programs & projects, carefully guided by community needs. Dev-Afrique’s local expertise can drive strategy while DevGlobal’s global capabilities can enable execution, and vice versa.  The strength of the model is its flexibility: responsive, deeply-informed programs that span the U.S., Europe, and the African continent. 

“Our partnership addresses a fundamental tension in development work,” explains Matt Manning, Founder of DevGlobal. “Whether we’re implementing NASA’s Lifelines program around the globe, supporting health systems in Nigeria, or encouraging cross-regional conversation around AI for smallholder farmers, we bring the same commitment: authentic local leadership integrated with global technical excellence from day one.” 

As DevPartners looks to expand its footprint and co-deliver 10 major initiatives by 2026, the partnership offers donors, governments, and organizations something the sector increasingly demands: proof that development can be done differently. That small, agile teams can out-compete firms 50 times their size. That African leadership and global innovation are essential to each other. 

“Being global and local makes us strong,” adds Sorunke. “We’re better together, and more importantly, our results are better together. Every project asks the same question: are we building something sustainable that truly serves communities? When you combine our strengths, the answer is yes.” 

Ready to work with a partner that bridges the global-local divide? Visit dev.global/partners to explore how DevPartners can help achieve your development goals worldwide. 

DevPartners brings together DevGlobal and Dev-Afrique to deliver people-centered, data-informed solutions across agriculture, health, climate, financial inclusion, policy, and WASH sectors. With operations spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America, we support leading nonprofits, companies, philanthropies, multilateral agencies, and government agencies in creating lasting impact.