Joyce Karanja

Joyce Karanja is a Partner and Co-head of the Competition Practice at Bowmans in Nairobi, specialising in competition law, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory compliance. She provides a full range of competition and antitrust law services, including merger control, cartels and markets, abuse of dominance and restrictive practices, dawn raid support, competition law compliance trainings and audits, as well as advising on commercial arrangements such as exclusivity agreements, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. She is widely recognised as one of Kenya's foremost experts in competition law and has deep knowledge of the competition regimes in Kenya, East Africa, and COMESA.

Joyce has advised on numerous significant merger control transactions, including Hollard International on the acquisition of minority control of the APA Group in Tanzania and COMESA; James Finlay Limited on the acquisition of 85% of the issued share capital of James Finlay (Kenya) Limited by Browns; Braeburn Schools Limited on its acquisition of Hillcrest Investments Limited; KCB Group Plc and Trust Merchant Bank on the COMESA filing for KCB's acquisition of control of TMB; and IBL Limited and STOA Infra on the acquisition of control of the Equator Energy group. She has also defended steel manufacturers in cartel investigations by the Competition Authority of Kenya, represented a leading Kenyan retailer in an abuse of buyer power investigation, and advised various industry stakeholders on market inquiries including the CAK's Online Food and Groceries Delivery Platform Market Inquiry and the Animal Feeds Sector Inquiry. Her clients include local and international businesses operating in Africa, as well as multi-national operations investing in Africa across sectors such as automotives, food and beverages, aviation, and financial services.

Joyce holds an LL.M from the University of London (Queen Mary), an LL.B (Hons) from the University of Luton, a Legal Practice Course (LPC) from the College of Law in London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law. She is a member of the Law Society of Kenya and the International Bar Association.

She has been ranked in the Spotlight Table by Chambers Global for Competition/Antitrust for five consecutive years (2021–2026), rated as a Highly Regarded Lawyer by IFLR1000 for Capital Markets, Banking and M&A (2020–2025), and featured as one of only three women in Africa for her work in the competition space by Global Competition Review. She has also been recognised as a Top 40 Under 40 lawyer by Business Daily.