BCI Documentation
How the Index Works
Framework version 1.1 · Last updated July 2026 · Nairobi
Framework version 1.1 · Last updated July 2026.
Table of Contents
What the Business Confidence Index measures
The BCI measures one thing: whether a business is ready to be relied on by a counterparty. Not whether it is profitable. Not whether it will succeed. Whether a lender, buyer, or investor who engages this business today will find what they need when they look under the hood.
Every counterparty decision reduces to three questions. Is this business legal? Can it pay? Can it deliver? The BCI is built around those three questions, extended with the forward-looking dimensions that separate a transactable business from an investable one.
What the BCI is not
The BCI is a Readiness Indicator, not a risk rating. It is computed from self-reported answers, so it is not a credit score, not a valuation, not a compliance certificate, and not a prediction of default. It measures institutional readiness: how closely a business meets the documentation and procedural expectations of formal counterparties. A business can hold every certificate and still be fragile. The BCI reads the paperwork layer, and says so openly.
The ten pillars
Knockout rules
A weighted average has a known failure mode: a business can score well overall while failing a condition that ends deals in practice. The BCI applies knockout caps for exactly those conditions, including missing business registration, missing tax registration, and unresolved defaults or penalties. A capped result always shows both numbers, the cap and what the score would have been, so the cost of the gate is visible and the path past it is obvious.
How to read your score
Knockout conditions cap the score regardless of band. Where a condition that ends deals in practice is present, the result says so directly, whatever the composite number reads.
Scores fall into five bands. Pre-Formal (0 to 19): the business exists as activity, not yet as an entity. Foundational (20 to 39): legal basics may exist but records and discipline do not; formal credit and corporate supply are closed for now. Developing (40 to 59): a real, transactable business with specific, fixable gaps; expect conditions such as security or shorter terms. Established (60 to 79): the business passes standard verification and qualifies for standard facilities and vendor lists. Confidence Grade (80 to 100): prepared beyond its size class; the profile anchor buyers build programmes around.
Self-reported today, verifiable tomorrow
Your BCI is only as honest as your answers, which is why it is labelled a Readiness Indicator. When a real counterparty assesses you, they verify. ASAP Information Services performs that verification professionally: registry checks, credit bureau reports, reference triangulation, and site-level due diligence, producing an evidence-backed report a counterparty can rely on. If your self-assessment surfaced gaps, the verified version is where fixing them starts to count.
Self-reported today. Verifiable tomorrow.
The BCI shows you what counterparties will see. When you need it verified, that’s the Enhanced Business Evaluation.
