Programme Finance. Built for Impact.

• What We Do
• Who We Are
• Why Payce Partners?
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What We Do

Payce Partners works on both sides of the funder-grantee relationship. We help funders maintain oversight of the portfolios into which their capital flows, and we help institutions build the systems to receive and steward that capital well.Service 1: Portfolio Oversight and Grantee Liaison
Independent financial monitoring, performance review, and risk assessment across multi-institution programmes. We act as the funder's eyes inside complex grantee structures, providing the assurance and intelligence that desk-based grant management cannot.Service 2: Grantee Capacity Assessment and Due Diligence
Pre-award and ongoing assessment of grantee financial systems, controls, and capacity to absorb capital at scale. Particularly relevant for funders deploying into sub-Saharan African institutions, where standard due diligence frameworks routinely underestimate operating realities.Service 3: Programme and Research Finance Architecture
End-to-end financial design and governance for research grants, studentship portfolios, and externally funded programmes. Bid budgeting, fEC costing, award management, partner subcontracting, and closeout. The financial infrastructure that makes scale sustainable and holds up under funder scrutiny.Service 4: Resource Mobilisation and Funder Structuring
Strategic finance support for institutions positioning themselves for grant capital and blended funding. Costing models, consortium structures, and value-for-money frameworks that turn proposals into credible investment cases.

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Who We Are

Payce Partners was founded by Ndabezinhle Masuku, a senior finance professional with over 25 years of institutional leadership across the UK and sub-Saharan Africa.His most recent work spans three years at the University of Oxford across three of its four academic divisions: the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (Medical Sciences), the Mathematical Institute (Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences), and the Blavatnik School of Government (Social Sciences). Before Oxford, he held CFO-level roles across multiple institutions in Zimbabwe, including through periods of severe macroeconomic volatility. That experience shaped a practical understanding of how capital is governed under genuine constraint.He holds professional fellowships with the Institute of Financial Accountants (FIPA) and the Institute of Public Accountants (FFA), and is PRINCE2 trained.Nda writes on programme finance, the economics of donor-funded delivery, and the funder-grantee relationship. Follow the conversation on LinkedIn.

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Why Payce Partners?

Two-sided perspective. We have built the finance functions that funders inspect, and we now provide the inspection. That dual perspective is rare, and it is what makes our oversight work realistic and our institutional advisory work credible.Institutional standards. Our reference points are Russell Group universities, major research councils, and Tier 1 funder frameworks.UK and sub-Saharan African fluency. Programmes spanning UK institutions and African delivery partners need finance leadership that understands both regulatory environments and both operating realities.Senior partnership. Engagements are led personally, not delegated.

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