Geopolitics and Global Risk Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Enterprise Risk Managers, Finance Directors and Controllers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-RM-063

Before you join: Participants should have working experience in risk management, finance, compliance, strategy, treasury, procurement or international operations.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Geopolitical events can disrupt cash flows, supply routes, energy costs, market access, sanctions exposure and asset values with little warning. Finance, risk and business leaders need a disciplined way to distinguish structural geopolitical shifts from short-term political noise, assess financial materiality and define proportionate responses. Without this discipline, organisations may overreact to headlines, miss concentration risks, or make commitments that become difficult to unwind when trade rules, alliances or conflict conditions change.

This course examines the theories, intelligence methods and risk-management practices used to assess geopolitical risk. Participants examine classical and contemporary geopolitical theories, state power, regional conflict, trade and sanctions, critical resources, cyber conflict and climate-security pressures. They learn to use PESTLE, country-risk indicators, scenario planning, risk appetite statements, ISO 31000 and COSO ERM to convert external developments into decision-ready risk assessments. The course also addresses board reporting, crisis escalation, supply-chain exposure, investment screening and financial contingency planning.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with structured case analysis, group risk assessments, scenario simulations and facilitated discussion. Cases reflect decisions faced by banks, manufacturers, energy firms, public bodies, NGOs and multinational companies. Participants build a geopolitical risk register, country-risk scorecard, scenario set and response plan that can be adapted to their own organisation. They receive a certificate of completion after attending the five-day programme.

The course suits professionals who already work with financial, operational, strategic or enterprise risks and now need stronger methods for interpreting political and international developments. It is particularly useful where operations, suppliers, customers, investments or funding arrangements span multiple jurisdictions.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply geopolitical theories to identify structural drivers of country and regional risk
  • Assess state power, political stability and conflict indicators using a country-risk scorecard
  • Translate sanctions, trade restrictions and policy changes into financial risk exposures
  • Construct geopolitical scenarios using drivers, uncertainties, signposts and decision triggers
  • Build a geopolitical risk register aligned with ISO 31000 risk treatment principles
  • Evaluate supply-chain, market-entry and investment exposure to geopolitical disruption
  • Design proportionate controls, contingencies and escalation thresholds for material geopolitical risks
  • Present decision-ready geopolitical risk analyses to executives, boards and risk committees

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess geopolitical news without relying on headline-driven judgement
  • Frame country and regional risks in financial decision terms
  • Produce clearer scenario assumptions for budgets, investments and contingency plans
  • Contribute credible geopolitical analysis to executive and board discussions
  • Build a reusable method for monitoring international risk signals

For your organisation

  • Earlier identification of geopolitical threats to revenues, assets and supply continuity
  • More consistent country-risk assessments across functions and business units
  • Better prepared responses to sanctions, trade controls and political disruption
  • Stronger challenge of market-entry, sourcing and investment assumptions
  • Clearer escalation and reporting of material geopolitical exposures

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can interpret geopolitical events using established theories of power, geography and state behaviour.

  • Classical geopolitics: Mackinder, Mahan and Spykman propositions tested against current power
  • Realism, liberalism and constructivism explain competing state interests and behaviour
  • Geographic chokepoints, critical minerals and sea lanes shape strategic exposure
  • National power assessed through DIMEFIL and CNP instruments
  • Sovereignty, borders and jurisdiction create cross-border risk constraints
  • Great-power competition distinguishes structural drivers from episodic political shocks
  • Political geography maps proximity, buffers, enclaves and contested territories

Participants can establish an evidence-based process for monitoring geopolitical developments and warning indicators.

  • Intelligence cycle: direction, collection, processing, analysis and dissemination
  • Source evaluation uses reliability grading and information credibility criteria
  • PESTLE scanning identifies political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental signals
  • Leading indicators distinguish emerging threats from confirmed disruptive events
  • Horizon scanning captures weak signals, trend changes and plausible discontinuities
  • Event chronologies separate facts, assessments, assumptions and unresolved questions
  • Warning thresholds link indicators to named owners and review frequencies

Participants can assess country risk using structured political, economic and institutional indicators.

  • Country-risk scorecards weight political, economic, security and institutional factors
  • Governance indicators assess rule of law, corruption and regulatory predictability
  • Election calendars identify policy reversals, unrest risks and transition uncertainty
  • Fiscal stress, debt sustainability and reserves signal sovereign vulnerability
  • Social cohesion measures highlight protest, identity conflict and displacement pressures
  • Security assessments examine insurgency, terrorism, crime and state capacity
  • Risk ratings document evidence, confidence levels and materiality judgements

Participants can analyse how conflict and security developments affect organisational assets, people and operations.

  • Conflict analysis identifies actors, interests, capabilities, triggers and fault lines
  • Escalation ladders map movement from diplomatic tension to armed confrontation
  • Conflict-sensitive analysis tests business decisions against local grievances and incentives
  • Security risk assessments address personnel, facilities, transport and information assets
  • Humanitarian crises disrupt labour markets, logistics, public services and community relations
  • Business continuity thresholds connect security incidents with operational response decisions
  • Duty-of-care responsibilities inform travel, evacuation and workforce communication plans

Participants can evaluate the risk implications of sanctions, export controls, tariffs and investment restrictions.

  • Economic statecraft uses sanctions, tariffs, subsidies and market-access restrictions
  • Sanctions programmes distinguish listed persons, sectoral restrictions and territorial scope
  • Export controls assess goods, software, technology, end-users and end-uses
  • Ownership and control tests identify indirect restricted-party exposure
  • Tariff scenarios quantify landed-cost changes, margin pressure and customer pass-through
  • Foreign investment screening affects acquisitions, joint ventures and sensitive technologies
  • Contract clauses address sanctions termination, force majeure and regulatory change

Participants can translate geopolitical developments into financial exposures, assumptions and risk metrics.

  • Transmission channels link geopolitical shocks to revenues, costs, liquidity and valuations
  • Currency risk analysis considers capital controls, convertibility and repatriation restrictions
  • Sovereign-risk spreads signal changing borrowing costs and market confidence
  • Commodity shocks affect energy budgets, working capital and hedging assumptions
  • Counterparty reviews test customer, bank and insurer exposure to affected jurisdictions
  • 13-week cash forecasts model disrupted receipts, inventory buffers and emergency spending
  • Materiality assessments prioritise exposures by financial impact, timing and reversibility

Participants can identify geopolitical dependencies and select risk treatments for supply-chain disruption.

  • Supply-chain mapping traces tier-one suppliers, critical inputs and transit routes
  • Concentration analysis measures dependency by geography, supplier and transport corridor
  • Criticality matrices rank components by substitutability, lead time and revenue impact
  • Single-point-of-failure analysis identifies vulnerable facilities, ports and data links
  • Nearshoring, friend-shoring and dual sourcing require cost-risk trade-off analysis
  • Inventory policies balance resilience stock, obsolescence risk and working-capital cost
  • Supplier contingency plans define alternative sources, qualification steps and activation triggers

Participants can create geopolitical scenarios that test strategic, financial and operational decisions.

  • Scenario planning separates predetermined elements from critical uncertainties
  • Two-axis scenario matrices generate distinct, plausible operating conditions
  • Driving-force analysis ranks impact, uncertainty, speed and interdependence
  • Signposts identify observable evidence supporting each scenario trajectory
  • Decision stress testing exposes weak assumptions in investments and operating plans
  • Contingent actions specify no-regret measures, options and trigger-based commitments
  • Scenario narratives connect geopolitical developments with quantified business consequences

Participants can integrate geopolitical risks into enterprise risk governance, treatment and assurance processes.

  • ISO 31000 principles frame context, assessment, treatment, monitoring and communication
  • COSO ERM links geopolitical risk to strategy, performance and governance
  • Risk appetite statements define acceptable exposure, limits and escalation thresholds
  • Inherent and residual ratings show the effect of existing controls
  • Bow-tie analysis connects causes, preventive controls, consequences and recovery controls
  • Risk treatment options compare avoidance, reduction, transfer, acceptance and preparedness
  • Control assurance tests ownership, design adequacy, operating evidence and exceptions

Participants can communicate geopolitical risks to decision-makers and plan their next implementation steps.

  • Board risk reports present exposure, trend, confidence and management action
  • Executive briefings separate strategic implications from operational incident detail
  • Risk heat maps require stated scales, aggregation rules and decision limits
  • Crisis escalation protocols define authority, communications and decision rights
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies regulators, investors, customers, communities and employees
  • After-action reviews capture assumptions, response performance and control improvements
  • Ninety-day application plans assign priorities, owners, milestones and reporting dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Geopolitical risk register template
  2. Country-risk scorecard model
  3. Geopolitical early-warning indicator dashboard
  4. Scenario planning worksheet
  5. Supply-chain dependency assessment checklist
  6. Ninety-day geopolitical risk action plan

Who should attend

  • Enterprise Risk Managers — need to integrate geopolitical threats into enterprise risk processes
  • Finance Directors and Controllers — assess effects on cash flow, costs, investments and reporting
  • Treasury and Investment Professionals — evaluate sovereign, currency and market disruption risks
  • Supply Chain and Procurement Leaders — manage exposure to trade restrictions and supplier concentration
  • Compliance and Sanctions Officers — interpret political developments affecting restricted-party and jurisdictional risks
  • Strategy and Corporate Development Managers — test market-entry, acquisition and expansion assumptions

Skills and tools covered

Country risk assessmentGeopolitical scenario planningSanctions risk analysisStrategic intelligence methodsRisk appetite designBoard risk reporting

Tools and standards

PESTLE analysis, ISO 31000, COSO ERM, Bow-tie analysis

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short instructor briefings to introduce geopolitical concepts, risk frameworks and analytical techniques. Participants then examine sector-based cases, assess country exposures, compare intelligence sources and develop structured risk responses in small groups. Scenario simulations test decisions under sanctions, conflict escalation, trade disruption and political instability. Facilitated discussion connects each method to participants' own portfolios, markets and supply arrangements. The final application-planning segment turns course outputs into actions for risk registers, reporting cycles and management decisions.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working experience in risk management, finance, compliance, strategy, treasury, procurement or international operations. They should be comfortable reading business news, interpreting basic financial impacts and discussing risk likelihood, impact and controls. Familiarity with an enterprise risk register, country reports or board papers is helpful but not essential. The course does not require a degree in international relations, prior military or diplomatic experience, advanced economics, specialist intelligence training, or quantitative modelling beyond simple scoring and scenario assumptions.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need practical familiarity with business risks, financial impacts or operational decision-making. No international relations qualification, advanced economics background or specialist intelligence experience is required.

Bring a laptop if possible, along with examples of markets, suppliers, assets or jurisdictions relevant to your role. Participants may also bring a current risk register or country-risk issue, subject to their organisation's confidentiality rules.

The course is designed for risk, finance, treasury, compliance, procurement, strategy and operational leaders with international exposure. It also suits managers whose decisions depend on political stability, trade access or cross-border counterparties.

General ERM courses focus on organisation-wide risk governance, assessment and reporting across risk categories. This course concentrates on geopolitical drivers and shows how to convert international developments into financial, operational and strategic risk decisions.

Participants can use the country-risk scorecard, early-warning indicators and scenario worksheet to review an exposed market, supplier network or investment decision. The application plan identifies actions, owners and reporting milestones for the first 90 days.

The programme provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided among instructor briefings, case analysis, group work, simulations, discussion and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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