Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Max-Forge Advisors is a pan-African boutique strategy and intelligence consultancy based in Johannesburg, South Africa. We provide strategic advisory, market intelligence, and business diagnostics services to SMEs and family businesses across Africa.

Responsible Party

• Name: Max-Forge Advisors
• Address: Johannesburg, South Africa
• Email: info@max-forge.com
• Website: www.max-forge.com

The "responsible party" is the entity that determines the purpose and means of processing personal information — in this case, Max-Forge Advisors.

2. What personal information we collect

We only collect personal information that is necessary for the purposes described in this policy. We collect information in the following ways:

Information you provide directly

• Contact enquiries: When you reach out via our contact form or by email, we collect your name, email address, company name, and the content of your message.
• Newsletter subscription: When you subscribe to our intelligence briefs, we collect your email address.
• Client engagements: During the course of a consulting engagement, we may collect additional business information, contact details, and relevant professional information that you share with us to enable us to deliver our services.

Information collected automatically

• Website usage data: Our website may collect standard server log data including your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and time of visit. This data is used for website security and performance monitoring only.
• Cookies: We use limited functional cookies to ensure the website operates correctly. See our Cookie Policy for full details.

Information we do not collect

We do not collect sensitive personal information (as defined by POPIA) such as race, health information, financial account details, biometric data, or criminal records through our website. If sensitive information is required in the context of a specific engagement, we will notify you separately and obtain explicit consent.

3. Why we collect your information

We collect and process your personal information for the following specific purposes:

• Responding to enquiries: To respond to questions, meeting requests, or service enquiries you send to us.
• Delivering services: To perform our consulting and advisory services where you have engaged us.
• Sending intelligence briefs: To send you our monthly intelligence publications and strategic updates, where you have subscribed.
• Improving our services: To understand how our website is used and to improve our content and user experience.
• Legal and compliance obligations: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and professional obligations.
• Business administration: For invoicing, record-keeping, and managing our business relationships.

We will not use your personal information for any purpose other than those listed above without first notifying you and obtaining your consent where required.

4. Legal basis for processing

Under POPIA, we may only process personal information if we have a valid legal basis for doing so. The legal bases we rely on are:

• Consent: Where you have provided explicit consent — for example, when subscribing to our newsletter or completing our contact form.
• Contractual necessity: Where processing is necessary to perform a contract with you — for example, delivering a consulting engagement you have commissioned.
• Legitimate interest: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these do not override your rights — for example, maintaining records of business correspondence.
• Legal obligation: Where we are required to process information to comply with a legal obligation.

Providing your personal information to us via our contact form or newsletter subscription is voluntary. However, if you choose not to provide certain information (such as your contact details), we may be unable to respond to your enquiry or provide our services.

5. Third parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We may share your information with third parties only in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We use trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our business — such as email delivery services and website hosting. These providers are contractually bound to process your information only on our instructions and to maintain appropriate security measures.
• Google Fonts: Our website uses Google Fonts, which causes your browser to make a request to Google's servers. This may result in Google receiving your IP address. You can learn more about how Google handles this data at policies.google.com/privacy.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose your information where required by law, court order, or to comply with any applicable legal or regulatory requirement.
• Business transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you before this occurs.

We do not share your information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

6. Cross-border transfers

Max-Forge Advisors operates across Africa and maintains professional networks in Europe and the Middle East. In the course of delivering our services, your information may be transferred to, stored, or processed in countries outside of South Africa.

In accordance with POPIA, we will only transfer personal information to foreign countries where:

• The recipient country has data protection laws that provide a substantially equivalent level of protection to POPIA (this includes countries in the European Union, which are subject to the GDPR);
• The recipient has agreed to be bound by contractual obligations that provide appropriate data protection; or
• You have consented to the transfer.

Where third-party service providers are located outside South Africa, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place before transferring your data.

7. How long we keep your information

We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Our general retention periods are:

• Contact enquiries: Retained for 3 years from the date of last communication, or longer if a business relationship develops.
• Client engagement records: Retained for 5 years from the conclusion of the engagement, in line with standard professional record-keeping practice.
• Newsletter subscribers: Retained until you unsubscribe. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email we send you.
• Website usage logs: Retained for up to 12 months for security and performance monitoring purposes.

When information is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it.

8. Your rights under POPIA

POPIA grants you a number of rights in relation to your personal information. You have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you.
• Deletion: Request that we delete your personal information, subject to any legal obligation we have to retain it.
• Objection: Object to the processing of your personal information where we are relying on legitimate interest as our legal basis.
• Withdrawal of consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
• Complaint: Lodge a complaint with the South African Information Regulator if you believe your rights under POPIA have been violated.

South African Information Regulator

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your request or complaint, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

• Website: www.justice.gov.za/inforeg
• Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001

9. Security

We take the security of your personal information seriously and implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, loss, or destruction. These measures include:

• Secure website hosting with SSL/TLS encryption (HTTPS)
• Access controls limiting who can access personal information within our organisation
• Secure email practices for handling client correspondence
• Regular review of our security practices

In the event of a personal information breach that poses a risk to your rights, we will notify you and the South African Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

10. Cookies

Our website uses cookies. For full details of the cookies we use, the purposes for which they are used, and how to manage your cookie preferences, please read our Cookie Policy.

11. Children

Our website and services are directed at business professionals and are not intended for, nor do we knowingly collect personal information from, children under the age of 18. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child, please contact us immediately at info@max-forge.com and we will delete it promptly.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Your continued use of our website after any changes constitutes your acknowledgement of the updated policy.

13. Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact our Information Officer:

• Email: info@max-forge.com
• Organisation: Max-Forge Advisors
• Address: Johannesburg, South Africa

We are committed to resolving any privacy concerns promptly and transparently.