A name that makes you pause, smile, and remember. A hippo on a roof? It means you’re seeing something that doesn’t belong—but maybe that’s exactly what was needed. Because solving personal or global challenges often starts with seeing things from unexpected angles. We are an independent strategic advisory firm that helps perceived unlikely partners co-create compliant, bold, lasting solutions.
At Hippo on a Roof, we design and implement bespoke cross-border structures that protect assets, enable growth, and align with each client’s goals and values. We combine strategic structuring expertise with a collaborative approach, working alongside your trusted advisors to ensure compliance and clarity. With a global network of reputable partners, we deliver seamless implementation – offering you discreet, tailored solutions with confidence and ease.
We simplify complexity by designing tailored cross-border, cross-sector, and multi-jurisdictional structures that protect, grow, and align your wealth, faith-based values, ventures, and development impact goals.
Our firm specializes in two core areas: Structured Finance Advisory and Development Sector Partnerships & Strategy.
Why Choose Us?
The firm is led by Karen Verheule, a structured finance specialist and development strategist with 25+ years of experience across the private- and development sectors in the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and East Africa. Karen has worked at the C-Suite level for global companies such as EY and Fortis Banking Group and brings a wealth of experience in cross-border vehicle structuring, structured trade finance, and investment banking. She has also advised clients on public-private partnerships and fund structuring, and collaborated on DFID, GIZ, and EU funded programmes.
We are not a law firm, tax advisor, or incorporation agent. Instead, we:
1. Advise and design. We take the time to deeply understand your context and objectives, then craft strategic structures tailored to your needs.
2. Collaborate with your advisors. We work alongside your lawyers and tax advisors to review and refine the proposed structure, ensuring it meets all legal and tax compliance requirements in your home- and operating jurisdictions.
3. Implement seamlessly. Once the structure is approved, we coordinate implementation through our network of trusted, licensed partners worldwide – including incorporation agents, fiduciaries, banks, custodians, and specialized service providers.
We don’t compete with law firms or service providers. Instead, we complement them by bringing cross-cutting strategic insight and coordination that frees them to do what they do best – while ensuring your goals remain at the center of every decision.
Our priority is to ensure full legal compliance while maximizing your privacy and asset protection, provide strategic structuring tailored to your goals, risks, jurisdictional requirements, and family/business dynamics, and maintain your confidentiality with integrity, professionalism, and discretion.
Our Edge
Dual Domain Expertise
Very few firms understand both sophisticated cross-border financial structuring and development impact strategy. This unique cross-pollination allows us to bring rigour, risk awareness, and global standards from private wealth into the often under-resourced world of NGOs and development agencies — and to offer a deeply ethical, purpose-aware perspective to HNWIs and corporates setting up offshore.
In a world moving toward ESG accountability, ethical wealth, and mission-aligned investing, we offer structures and strategies that consider long-term legacy, social footprint, and transparency. We’re fluent in global and grassroots. We can blend finance with empathy. We know how to navigate bureaucracy, power dynamics, and the unexpected.
We’re not just strategists—we’re partners in the journey. We are your strategic connector, structured thinker, and partnership broker, whether for private wealth or grassroots climate projects.