Stopping in Accra is one of my favorite things to do, never more so now than before. Landing in a country where immigration says “Welcome Home” (as a simple way to inform me of my supposed Ghanaian features) is always endearing. Seeing the booming economy can definitely make you want [...]
As the flight from Dire Dawa, Ethiopia descends into Djibouti airspace, it is hard to ignore Djibouti’s strategic location and importance. Bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and situated between Eritrea and Somalia, Djibouti is the route to the sea for African countries such as South Sudan [...]
Sitting in the middle of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, you cannot ignore the diverse landscape of the country and its potential for agribusiness investment. Madagascar, similar to large part of Africa, has a vast amount of arable land that is bringing in investors in droves. Africa contains 58 percent [...]
Sitting in one of my favorite restaurants in Addis Ababa, the lights flicker on and off–it’s as if the doorman is playing jokes on the clientele. But this is not the doorman, but rather a normal occurrence in Africa. When discussing energy in Africa, my friends and I usually [...]
In this second of a two-part series, Hurley Doddy of Emerging Capital Partners discusses why certain investors argue over a possible lack of capital in sub-Saharan Africa, and more.
For a growing number of private equity investors and asset managers, Africa is no longer a secret. Recent events highlight the view that Africa will play an important role in the global economy.
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Africa has exciting growth prospects – favorable demographics combined with natural resources create tremendous business opportunities. International corporations and capital have focused on acquiring or funding larger African businesses to harness this growth, while non-profits have supported the micro-finance movement to assist budding entrepreneurs to start sustainable businesses. What has been severely lacking is risk capital that bridges the gap between the fledgling start-ups and large-scale businesses, the so-called “missing middle”. This has led to an initiative fostered by the World Economic Forum to tackle new ways of financing this small-medium enterprise (SME) finance gap. One potentially unexplored concept is to accelerate the formation of locally organized angel groups, a concept that is explored below.
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Mention the name Zimbabwe in investment circles and the reaction is varied — mostly keen interest, but ultimately negative. This reaction is understandable, given that the country has experienced the worst economic crisis ever. However, this negative sentiment, I believe, may be blinding investors to the opportunity that is emerging in the country.
This week, world leaders are assembling in New York to review progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If past gatherings are any indication, we can expect to hear countless speeches and media stories about how Sub-Saharan Africa remains woefully off-track and that billions of dollars in new aid packages are required. These types of blanket statements perpetuate the misguided myth that Africa is a monolithic land of depravity and development disappointment. One cannot deny that such localized places exist – such as Somalia or Zimbabwe. However, these hot spots increasingly have become isolated islands of instability on an otherwise surging continent. Let us put aside the African cliché and instead focus our lens on the stars – the MDG Trailblazers.
The excellent business and investment prospects of Africa are being recognized publicly, finally. I believe there are five compelling reasons why all investors should take a serious look at Africa:
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