Introduction / Session de dialogue

We finished Part I - Solving the Capital Formation Issue with a question? How should institutional investors go about looking for the best partners to help them make successful investments in Africa; and fundamentally, the real question to ask is, what are the variables required for building successful investment platforms in Africa? Whenever one meets with an allocator from an institutional investor to discuss an allocation to an Africa strategy, the first question on their checkl ...

1970s : Oil and wheat are strategic commodities, their prices are skyrocketing, Arab countries declare an oil boycott against the US and the US contemplates to retaliate with a grain embargo. Gulf countries are alarmed and look into a plan to develop Sudan as an Arab breadbasket.  This plan, however, unravels by the 1980s amidst political instability, misguided project designs and alleged corruption amongst the Sudanese (Nimeiri) regime. Instead, Saudi Arabia embarks on a subsidize ...

The strategy to vertically integrate mining producers requires the identification of the right conditions for its financing. Many approaches are possible and the technique of securitization, although widely stigmatized since the financial crisis of 2008, must be considered. Several conditions are however necessary. It is unlikely that the off-balance sheet securitization is currently positioned as an important means to finance this sector’s production capacity. Whatever the scope of ...

Over the next couple of months, we want to explore the investing climate in Sub Saharan Africa (“SSA”) and try to understand where it is and what elements/variables are required to increase the continent’s attractiveness to institutional investors and thereby speed up the continent’s development. We will discuss the Private Equity industry in Africa and delve into the challenges faces. We will then work through how best to address them, and in particular, in the Agribusiness sector. ...