Africa has long been known for its youthful population, and while the continent will continue to have the largest youth cohort in the world, they’ll live longer than their forebearers, according to the latest Bright Africa pensions research from RisCura, a global investment firm.
Like many other industries around the world, the Coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on our asset management industry, accelerating some of the existing trends already in motion and introducing new challenges to business models and technological capabilities, as well as very interesting opportunities. Among these have been: the rapid implementation of advanced technologies; provision of enhanced communications and client services in a virtual environment; greater globalisation leading to more competition; and the increasing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Although many local managers like Prudential have navigated the crisis very successfully, it has shown us that going forward we will need to be more adaptable than ever. This, while also maintaining a stable company culture and operational base, and delivering consistently excellent client services and investment returns.
Well-known for its unique fauna and tropical climate, Madagascar is an enchanting travel destination for any visitor. Most would agree there is nowhere else on the planet with the sheer wealth of natural resources like one will find in Madagascar.
Over the last two decades, many companies have delisted from the JSE. In its 1988 peak, it had 754 companies listed, which was down to 274 at the end of 2020, with no slowdown in sight.
From 2000 to 2015, Africa saw $836bn leave its shores through transfers. This capital flight is a tragic outcome, particularly given the extraordinary need for capital investment across the continent, and I contend, the compelling investment opportunity that Africa in many ways represents. During this period, Africa went from the hopeless to the hopeful continent, and back again, hamstringing long-term investment commitments.
OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I is the first global emerging markets impact fund in Finland. The fund targets significant positive impacts on, for instance, climate change, food security, gender equality and the availability of financing. As someone who has been keeping a close eye on the global impact investment market, I foresee substantial growth in impact investing in the coming years..
The largely untapped and unrealized potential that Africa is blessed with has been a magnet that has attracted and continues to attract mining investors to the continent.
Until circular 1/2021 was released on January 4 this year, it was largely prohibited for South Africans to invest in offshore structures that owned South African assets or lent money to South Africans.
The multi-year outperformance of growth over value stocks is well documented and has been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, cheap (value) stocks have underperformed by the biggest margin seen in over a century. Hence, it should not come as a surprise to find that the investing public has given up on value stocks and value funds. The effect of this capitulation out of cheap and unloved stocks has been profound. It has given rise to some of the widest discrepancies in relative valuations and some of the highest levels of crowding in growth (particularly technology) stocks on record.
I was invited as one of the panelists to attend a webinar about healthcare investments in Africa. The main question there was how the ongoing pandemic has reshaped the healthcare investment landscape. Some things may have changed during this very exceptional year but in my opinion, most things have not. We are a long-term impact investor, and our mandate is to help companies grow. This fact hasn’t changed. If anything, COVID-19 has made us all aware of how important it is to have sufficient reliable healthcare resources. Many of our target countries have public healthcare systems that are currently not able to meet the needs of the growing populations.
There is an opportunity to increase the presence of Funds that focus along the agribusiness value chain, writes Paul Kamau, Director, Finaltus
Despite the uncertainty about the domestic and global economy, financial markets have staged a rapid recovery since the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a severe sell-off in February and March this year. The fiscal and monetary stimulus of economies contributed to the improved sentiment in markets since April, but the question is to what extent this can be sustained? We are also faced with a variety of problems in South Africa that will not disappear overnight.
The impact of COVID-19 on global economies has triggered unprecedented central bank responses. Since the virus made its debut in December 2019, the US Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) has lowered the targeted fund rate and kept it between a range of 0% to 0.25%. This marks the lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis. Locally interest rates are at 50-year lows after the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) trimmed interest rates by 3% this year.
Due to the impact of COVID-19 on the South Africa economy and particularly the poor socio-economic situation of many South Africans, the value of Impact Investing has been amplified and investors realise the integral role it plays as part of their investment portfolio.
