Partner-led · Specialist-augmented

Two partners.
One operating bar.

Clartis Group was founded by two operators who'd spent twenty years between them in Big-Four advisory, institutional finance, and running a real company from the inside. We took what worked in each — and left the rest behind.

JP
Co-Founder, Clartis Group

Jean-Philippe Kayobotsi

Strategy, finance & applied AI

Jean-Philippe is Co-Founder of Clartis, an advisory firm helping SMEs and scale-ups turn strategy, finance, and AI into measurable outcomes. He partners with CEOs, entrepreneurs and boards on digital transformation, P&L optimization, and the integration of AI agents into core business workflows. He recently co-led Clartis ventures that invested in applied-AI products including Maia Accounting, Maia Schoolfin, Ailex, and Aillo (an AI voice receptionist).

Over 20+ years, he has operated at the intersection of policy, finance, and execution. He co-founded and led Brioche in Rwanda, scaling the company to 100+ staff across multiple sites and into Kenya. Earlier, he advised the Office of the President of Rwanda on private-sector development and "Ease of Doing Business" reforms, structured cross-border private-sector investments at the African Development Bank, supported Belgium's Minister for European Affairs & Development on EU policy, and delivered organizational design and enterprise system projects at Deloitte across Europe and the Americas.

He holds an MBA from Chicago Booth, alongside Master's degrees in International Development & Politics from Université libre de Bruxelles and in Commercial Sciences from ICHEC Brussels. A Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow and Bernheim Foundation Award recipient, he works fluently in English, French, and Dutch.

Chicago Booth MBA AfDB Office of the President · Rwanda Deloitte Co-founder · Brioche Desmond Tutu Fellow
AV
Co-Founder, Clartis Group

Alice Van Mierlo

Strategic finance, fractional & interim CFO

Alice is Co-Founder of Clartis, an advisory firm helping SMEs and scale-ups turn strategy, finance, and AI into measurable outcomes. She leads Clartis's strategic finance practice, providing fractional and interim CFO mandates across financial restructuring, IFRS implementation, equity fundraising, and ERP transformation — and is co-founding AI-driven finance and operations solutions, including Maia, an accounting automation platform for Belgian freelancers and SMEs.

Over 20+ years, Alice has built and led finance functions across Europe and Africa. She co-founded and serves as Group CFO of Brioche, scaling the company from startup to 14+ outlets and 100+ employees across Rwanda and Kenya and directing its post-Covid restructuring. Earlier, she served as Fractional CFO at Probakery Solutions in Kenya, founded Van Kays Associates in Rwanda, established KPMG Tunisia's Transaction Services division advising Carlyle Group and Kingdom Zephyr on PE acquisitions, and managed audits of major financial institutions including AXA, Euroclear, and Rothschild Bank at PwC Belgium.

An ACCA Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant and Stanford Seed alumna, she holds an MBA from Université Catholique de Louvain, a Master's in Marketing Communications from Bournemouth University, and a Bachelor's in Economics & Business from Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis. A former Board Member of SOS Children's Village Rwanda, she works in French (native), English, and Dutch.

ACCA Fellow UCLouvain MBA Stanford Seed KPMG · PwC Co-founder & Group CFO · Brioche Founder · Maia
Operating model

Partner-led.
Specialist-augmented.

We've designed Clartis as the firm we'd have wanted to hire when we were operators. Two senior partners stay in the room on every engagement. When the work needs deeper bench — a sector specialist, a forensic accountant, an ML engineer, a regulatory expert — we bring in vetted operators we've worked with before.

That keeps the senior surface-area high, the cost structure honest, and the quality of the bench under our direct control. No pyramid economics, no junior-team handoff, no marketing-fit case studies that don't match what's on the engagement.

It also means we say no to work that doesn't fit. Quietly, but reliably.

Origin

Why we built it this way.

Between us we've sat in three seats: institutional advisor, Big-Four consultant, and operator. Each seat sees the others incompletely. Advisors don't always carry implementation risk. Consultants don't always own the P&L. Operators don't always have outside perspective when they need it most.

Clartis exists to combine those views — not by hiring people who claim to have all three, but by being people who actually do, and who've built a firm that doesn't apologize for it.

We're partial to companies in transition: founder-led businesses professionalizing, family groups going through generational handover, PE portfolio companies getting their hold-period playbook in motion, and mid-market operators who need real help but don't want a tier-one firm's price tag or process.

The work is paid for outcomes, structured for clarity, and delivered with the people whose names are on the door.

What you can expect

Five things we promise.

01

Senior on every call.

A founding partner is on every working session.

02

Findings written down.

Diagnosis is documented before recommendations.

03

Decisions, not decks.

Output is the change made — not the deliverable handed over.

04

Confidentiality default.

Engagements under NDA unless a client wants otherwise.

05

We say no.

If it's not a fit, we'll tell you — and refer you when we can.

Talk to a partner.

Book a confidential call →