African investors Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

30Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

Young founders & investors flock to Joburg’s first Founder’s Den event, hosted by local digital innovation agency Specno

The “Founder’s Den” event, which took place at the Old Mutual headquarters in Sandton on Thursday 25 July, is responsible for successfully hosting over 150 business leaders, investors, and founders from a curated list of key eco-system players from South Africa’s startup community in Johannesburg last week. The gathering, which usually takes place in Cape Town, aims to shape the future of business in South Africa by bringing together a number of visionary entrepreneurs, tech industry leaders, and investors. It has been hosted on an annual and bi-annual basis by Specno since 2021, and its launch in Johannesburg this year was made possible by Old Mutual’s innovative partnerships and ventures hub, Next176. The event was organised with the aim of building a supportive ecosystem for startups ...

16Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Digital innovation agency Specno launches Johannesburg’s very first Founders Den event for young founders, investors & tech enthusiasts

Specno is excited to confirm the announcement that its bi-annual Founders Den event will be taking place in Johannesburg later this month. The gathering, which usually takes place in Cape Town, aims to shape the future of business in South Africa, by bringing together a number of visionary entrepreneurs, tech industry leaders, and investors. Attendees will gain valuable industry insights, make meaningful connections, and be inspired by the success stories of other South African entrepreneurs. The event promises an excellent opportunity for representatives of the media to capture stories of innovation and entrepreneurship in our country today. Speakers include Alex Thomson (Co-Founder of Naked Insurance), Rajiv Daya (Head of Investment at Next176 from Old Mutual) and Priaash Ramadeen (Co-...

9Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Why fund of funds unit trusts are the way to go

By Gregoire Theron, Chief Investment Officer at GraySwan Investors have the option to either construct their own portfolio of selected single unit trusts or use a fund of funds solution – otherwise known as a fund of funds unit trust. Investors who are looking for well-diversified combination of single unit trust funds which provides consistent superior performing and at lower fees than the industry should consider fund of funds unit trusts. There are a select few premium fund of funds unit trusts which provides such as a one stop shop solution. Single manager unit trusts, which are managed funds that pool money from investors to achieve economies of scale, have grown increasingly popular as they provide easy access to a broad range of assets, such as local and offshore stocks, bonds an...

4May

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Main

The African Private Equity Market’s role in the continent’s exciting transformation

By Angela Simpson and Lydia Shadrach-Razzino, Partners and Co-heads of the Corporate/M&A Practice at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg The impact of global geopolitical and economic turbulence and the challenges of the pandemic have led private equity (PE) investors to carefully assess which sectors are expected to do well in Africa and where they can find high quality assets at the right price. Healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), energy, infrastructure and financials have emerged as the most active sectors by value in Africa in the last few years, with PE investment in general rising substantially despite economic challenges. Rapid innovative developments in these sectors have attracted the attention of PE investors, and it is clear that the continent is open for...

45 entrepreneurs from Africa attended the sixth edition of the SIBC

19Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Events, Startups

45 entrepreneurs from Africa attended the sixth edition of the SIBC

From November 23 to 29, 2022, 45 entrepreneurs from 18 African countries met in Marseille for the 6th edition of the Social & Inclusive Business Camp (SIBC) - an acceleration programme for African social and inclusive businesses. After three months of online training and mentoring, the winning entrepreneurs took part in an intensive week-long bootcamp with training modules, personalised coaching and networking opportunities, finishing with pitch sessions in front of key financial stakeholders in Africa during the EMERGING Valley Summit. THE SIBC - A PROGRAMME TO ACCELERATE SOCIAL AND INCLUSIVE COMPANIES IN AFRICA The Social & Inclusive Business Camp (SIBC) is an acceleration programme that has been supporting African social and inclusive businesses that are looking to scale up fo...

12Aug

By Mike van RensburgNo Comments

African News, Business, Main

Massive increase in M&A deal value in Sub-Saharan Africa in the first half of 2021

There were 333 M&A deals announced in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the first six months of 2021 (H1 2021), valued at USD 57.7 billion, according to Baker McKenzie's analysis of Refinitiv data. When compared to the same period last year (H1 2020) this amounted to a 14% increase in deal volume and an astounding 576% increase in deal value. H1 2020 recorded 293 M&A deals with a deal value of USD 8.5 billion. Last year was a relatively difficult year for investors in Africa, with considerable uncertainty. Pandemic impacts had a limiting effect on numerous sectors and many deals had to be postponed as a result. The boost in M&A deal value in 2021 is, in part, due to a post-COVID boom, where last year’s postponed and delayed transactions were able to proceed in the first half of 2021...

Top African regions set to become leading startup and investment hubs

26Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, South Africa News, Startups

Top African regions set to become leading startup and investment hubs

On the back of Cape Town being recognised as the tech capital of Africa, topping international rankings for foreign direct investment strategy, Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC – investors in early-stage, high-growth technology businesses – says several other African cities are quickly emerging as leading startup and investment hubs to watch. “Startups in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa raised a total of US$625 million last year. Of those, Kenyan startups raised US$191 million, the most of any other African country, according to Disrupt Africa’s African Tech Startup Funding Report for 2020. Distinct startup geographies are emerging in Africa, each with the potential to become its own powerhouse,” he says. In addition, the World Bank predicts that two thirds of the world’s ...

29Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Egypt News, Ghana News, Kenya News, Main, Mauritius News, Nigeria News, South Africa News

African dealmaking decreases, the Africa’s Free Trade Agreement expected to boost recovery

Dealmaking activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) dropped in the second half of 2020 (H2 2020), when compared to the second half of 2019 (H2 2019) and year-on-year, deals were also down in both volume and value when compared to 2019. According to Baker McKenzie’s analysis of Refinitiv data, M&A transactions dropped in SSA in H2 2020, down 4% compared to H2 2019 with 329 deals in the period. Deal value fell by 17% to USD8.9 billion in the second half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. For the full year 2020, transactions dropped by 8%, with 625 deals in 2020, and deal value dropped by 33%, with deals valued at USD17.4 billion in total for 2020. However, as Africa gears up for its post-pandemic recovery, it appears that the opportunities presented by the recent launch of fr...

9Aug

By Ehiedu IwerieborNo Comments

Main, Nigeria News

African Challenges to African Development

The parlous story of African economic and social development since independence best expressed in the failure to achieve the autonomous capacity for self-actuated development and in particular to create conditions of national and continental modern mass production and prosperity is well known and need not be repeated. It is enough to re-state that Africa’s development failure was because of the leaderships’ choice to retain, maintain and expand the inherited exocentric colonial system of development incapacitation, primary commodity export, import dependency and poverty generation. The progressive efforts of some African states and leaders to change the system and create self-reliant economies were stymied by the leaderships’ ideological inadequacies and dependency, the balance of paymen...