Development Partners International (DPI) has raised one of the largest Africa funds at $900m to invest in innovation-led companies. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Joanne Yoo, Managing Director, DPI to discuss fundraising environment in Africa, ADP III’s investment strategy and opportunities.
Impact is the main driver of the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), according to Catherine Cax, Director of Investments, Open Society Foundations - Soros Economic Development Fund.
The financial technology (fintech) ecosystem in Africa is entering into a new, exciting and challenging phase with more capital, more competition from incumbents from different quarters and more consolidation (M&A). As key segments grow, the rewards and risks grow for challengers and incumbents.
AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Ronald J. Samuels, CEO of Botswana Life Insurance, about the firm, its investment strategy, trends in Botswana insurance sector and challenges
Shuraako, a program of One Earth Future, has created the first structured impact investment fund in the Somali region in partnership with investors. Anna Lyudvig speaks with Haley Littleton, Communications Manager at One Earth Future, to learn more
Fred Steiner, Portfolio Manager, BCCM Advisors speaks with AGF’s Anna Lyudvig about the Fund, investment opportunities in Africa and trends in the African asset management industry
AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Tamer El-Raghy, Managing Director, Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) about the fund, investment strategy and climate resilience
Steyn Capital is all about searching for and capitalizing on market inefficiencies, say Andre Steyn (left), Founder & PM, and Bernard Griesel (right), Lead Africa Analyst.
In July, Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager, has announced the successful first close on its fourth mezzanine fund. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig caught up with Warren van der Merwe, Managing Partner to learn more about the fund, current trends and opportunities in mezzanine debt.
It is not a revelation that many African economies remain heavily reliant on commodities exports. But just how closely African frontier equities markets’ performance (in USD terms) generally correlates with the global level of commodities prices is somewhat surprising. That’s because the equity market indices of sub-Saharan African frontier markets are completely dominated by domestically focussed sectors, such as financials and telecoms.
Imara Asset Management is planning to launch a new long-only equity Imara Fintech Fund, which targets high quality companies with scale-able technology, low customer acquisition costs and have long and wide runways for growth. According to Lead PM, Tony Schroenn, Imara started to pivot towards FinTech at the end of 2019. “We saw how beneficial it was, and how well it was working, we did a further pivot in 2020,” he recalls.
AGF speaks with Llewellyn Ford (pictured), Head: Investor Services, South Africa; Adam Bateman (AB), Head: Business Development, Investor Services; and Hari Chaitanya (HC) Head: Investor Services Product Management, Standard Bank, about African asset servicing industry, tech innovation and Standard Bank’s services
AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Angela Miller-May, CIO of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, about the Fund, investments opportunities in Africa and private equity
