Africa’s private equity market is rapidly evolving into a credible institutional asset class, driven by long-term structural trends including urbanisation, a growing middle class, economic formalisation, and digital and financial inclusion. These forces are creating sustained demand across sectors like fintech, healthcare, and consumer goods, while improvements in governance, management quality, and capital market infrastructure are strengthening the investment environment, as Albert Alsina of Mediterrania Capital notes. Find more on (pp.14-15).

In this month’s issue, we also discover that Sanlam Allianz Investments Limited (SAIL) leverages its strong East African presence and disciplined, long-term strategy to invest in high-quality, undervalued equities across the region. By focusing on fundamentally strong companies often overlooked by global investors, SAIL aims to deliver consistent, risk-adjusted returns while highlighting the region’s depth and long-term growth potential. (pp.16-17).

In addition, we find that West African countries are increasingly turning to sukuk (Islamic bonds) to reduce their reliance on traditional Eurobond markets, which depend on a concentrated and highly correlated group of global investors. Read on p.22.

On the fundraising front, Persistent has launched the $70 million Persistent Africa Climate Venture Fund, with a first close of $52 million and an additional $5 million Venture Building Facility (VBF) to accelerate the growth of early-stage climate ventures across Africa (News on p.4).