The AVCA Podcast

Read the full article: https://medium.com/@avca-africa/breaking-barriers-women-shaping-the-future-of-private-capital-in-africa-bc7f72fd3a44

Private Capital investment is on the rise in Africa, with investors from around the world recognising the continent’s potential for growth and development. However, despite the many opportunities for investment, there remains a significant underrepresentation of women in the industry, with just a handful of female investors and executives at the top of the pyramid.

For International Women's Day 2023, we speak with an industry professional reshaping the future of private capital in Africa, breaking barriers, challenging the status quo, and paving the way for a more inclusive and diverse industry.

Meet Ann Wyman, Senior Partner, AfricInvest

AVCA meets with Albert Alsina, Mediterrania Capital Partners to challenge the myth of Africa as a weak exit environment, discuss exit strategy in Africa and to deep dive on achieving their exit accomplishments.

Learn more about Mediterrania Capital Partners:  https://www.mcapitalp.com/

What will climate change mean for agriculture in Africa? In this podcast with Yosuke Kotsuji, Acting Head of Africa Agribusiness at IFC, we will discuss IFC’s investment in Nigeria’s Jubaili Agrotec for food security, and the use of innovation to combat climate change.

In this episode, we speak with Alexander Tounkara, Founder & Managing Partner at AGI, for our inaugural Achieving SDGs Through African Private Capital Series, which will focus on SDG 7 and ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

AGI is an impact fund manager and advisory firm dedicated to West African economic development, with a team with international, sectoral and local expertise, networks and a proven track record of successful investing with a strong risk mitigation discipline.

While the industry has witnessed significant success stories across fundraising and deal-making, challenges such as foreign exchange volatility, complex regulatory environments, limited exit options, and the increasing trend of consolidation continue to prevent the continent’s investment potential from being realised fully. This panel chronicles some of the recent changes the industry has encountered and overcome, as well as fund manager strategies to maintain investor interest, mobilise resources, and create value in their investment portfolio. 

Speakers:

Clarisa De Franco, Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Funds • British International Investment

'Tokunboh Ishmael, Co-Founder and Managing Director • Alitheia Capital

Ziad Oueslati,  Co-Founding Partner and Managing Director • AfricInvest

Luc Rigouzzo, Co-Founder and Managing Partner • Amethis

Nicholas Vickery, Global Head Private Equity Funds • IFC

Christopher Baird, Partner • DLA Piper

Published 28 July 2022

The nature of African farming and food production has witnessed seismic shifts in the last several years. This panel unpacks the growth drivers of the industry’s maturation, zooming in on the enormous commercial opportunities Agribusiness has to offer private investors in Africa, which is home to 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land. This podcast discussion also adopts a granular view of the challenges associated with establishing an effective and efficient food production industry on the continent, including the changing demography of African farmers, weak supply chains, and climate change.

Speakers:

Nadia Coulibaly Kouassi, Head of Research • AVCA

Vanessa Adams, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Chief of Party • AGRA

Stuart Bradley, Managing Partner • Phatisa

Euler Bropleh, Founder and Managing Director • VestedWorld

Fireside Chat: In conversation with Ham Serunjogi

In this podcast, we discuss Angolan capital markets with Rui Oliveira, CEO, BFA Asset Management, including the current state of private investment in the country, challenges BFA and the industry have faced, and the tremendous growth of GDP per capita predicted in the next 2 years.

In this episode of the PE Talks Africa podcast, we catch up with Alexis Caude, Managing Partner at Adenia Partners, to discuss the exits landscape in African private equity.

From the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on exiting investments and limited IPO opportunities in Africa to the sale of Mauvilac, the Mauritian paint company, to AkzoNobel, Alexis Caude talks about Adenia’s majority ownership strategy for investing in Africa, and why a strong management team makes all the difference in a company.

In this episode, we talk to three economists from the African Development Bank (AfDB) – Dr Fadel Jaoui, Dr Omolola Amoussou, and Dr Francis Kemeze. Fadel, Lola and Francis conducted an empirical analysis of the venture capital drivers using a dataset of African economies over the 2014 – 2019 period. Their research finds that in Africa, digital infrastructure plays a significant role in shaping a favourable environment for VC in Africa to thrive, in addition to enabling regulatory frameworks, institutional factors, market size, and corporate governance.

From the potential to engineer ‘clusters’ for innovation and knowledge exchange in Africa, to bringing informal economy stakeholders into the VC conversation, our guests address the factors, trends and issues that continue to influence the flow of early-stage funding across Africa.

Find out more about the Macro-economics Policy, Forecasting and Research (ECMR) Department at AfDB: https://www.afdb.org/en/knowledge/macro-economics-policy-forecasting-and-research