Africa InvestingPost

Nigeria to benefit from Bharti’s $1bn new Africa investment

2011-06-01T19:55:00.000-04:00

Nigeria to benefit from Bharti’s $1bn new Africa investment

Investing in Africa an act of faith: Manmohan Singh

2011-06-01T19:52:00.000-04:00

Investing in Africa an act of faith: Manmohan Singh

Vodafone might reduce its presence in the Middle East and focus on India and Europe.

2010-07-28T11:38:00.005-04:00

During the TMT Finance Middle East 2010 conference last month, it was stated that the total value of deals in the Middle East and Africa could reach US$30 billion (Dh110.18bn) this year.

Vodafone said it might reduce its presence in the Middle East to focus its activities on Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and India.

The first concrete step in this direction was Vodafone’s recent discussions with Telecom Egypt, which was interested in buying Vodafone’s 55 per cent stake in Vodafone Egypt.

While these discussions did not lead to a formal offer, they showed Vodafone’s willingness to eventually divest its stake.

CEO Challenges in North Africa Telecoms

2010-07-28T11:24:00.000-04:00

CEO Challenges in North Africa Telecoms

Vodafone CEO: Bharti-Zain deal, good for mobile subscribers

2010-03-16T20:39:00.001-04:00

Vodafone CEO: Bharti-Zain deal, good for mobile subscribers

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The Nigerian economy grew by 6.9% on telecom industry growth

2010-03-16T20:20:00.001-04:00

This is 6% over the previous year’s results, said the agency in a statement. According to the statistics, non-oil industries expanded 8.6%, while oil and gas contracted 1.2%.

Crude oil production, accounting for 80% of national revenue, dropped due to various attacks by militants, cutting Nigeria’s output by more than 28%

ZICTA: Too many foreign telecom firms in Zambia

2010-02-27T09:04:00.005-05:00

There are many foreign telecom firms in Zambia

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China Unicom reverses position on purchase of NITEL stake

2010-02-25T20:00:00.002-05:00

China Unicom reverses position on purchase of NITEL stake

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Ghana embarks on ambitious ICT project

2010-02-25T11:10:00.004-05:00

Ghana embarks on ambitious ICT project

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Chevron Nigeria Limited says it is investing $3billion or N444 billion in Nigeria

2010-02-25T09:23:00.001-05:00

Chevron invests N444b in Nigeria

Maroc Telecom posts $1.14 billion in net profit

2010-02-24T08:59:00.002-05:00

Maroc Telecom, a unit of French media giant Vivendi SA, late Monday said its 2009 net profit fell 1%, reflecting financial costs,but forecast moderate revenue growth in 2010.

Net profit fell to 9.43 billion Moroccan Dirhams ($1.14 billion) as the company recorded MAD147 million in financial expenses. In 2008 it had booked MAD394 million of financial income.

Maroc Telecom is a 53% subsidiary of Vivendi, with operations covering mobile, fixed-line and Internet access services.

Maroc Telecom - Vivendi

Mark Allegretti - Role of Private Equity

2010-02-22T11:53:00.002-05:00

Compared to other emerging markets, Africa is less penetrated by private equity and other forms of private investment and the factors above continue to ...
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The New Generations Telecoms buys NITEL for $2.5b

2010-02-17T10:54:00.001-05:00

AFTER a rigorous bid which saw five consortia, jostling for the soul of Nigeria’s first National Telecommunications carrier, NITEL, the New Generations Telecommunications Consortium, yesterday, emerged winners of the new NITEL with a bid of $2.5 billion.

New Generations Telecommunications Consortium is the former Telefonica. The consortium included China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited, Minerva Group of Dubai and local company GiCell Wireless Limited. Announcing the result of the bid, BPE’s Head, Public Communications, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, revealed that Brymedia Consortium bided $551million for the whole of NITEL, while MTN Nigeria offered $25million for SAT-3 only.

European bank bids for three bailed-out banks

2010-02-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

European bank bids for three bailed-out banks

The Trend to Watch in 2010: Mobile Operator Network Sharing

2010-01-16T13:52:00.002-05:00

Mobilserve, leading Telecom Infrastructure Solutions Provider Sees Network Sharing as Key Growth Driver for Region's Mobile Operators.

Mobilserve, the region's leader in turnkey telecommunication infrastructure solutions and engineering services, predicts strong growth for mobile operators fueled by growing demand for data and 3G services. Subscription rates are forecast to grow substantially in the coming years, with Egypt emerging as the second fastest growing market in Africa.

Standard Chartered Private Equity Invests $47.5m in Seven Energy

2010-01-16T13:29:00.001-05:00

Standard Chartered Private Equity Limited has announced that it has invested $47.5m to acquire a minority stake in Seven Energy, a leading Nigerian gas exploration and development company. Seven Energy was formed in 2007 and is focused on the provision of gas to leading industrial firms in Nigeria.

Standard Chartered’s investment will aid in the development of Seven Energy’s business and toughen its competitive positioning. The use of funds will provide a much needed spur for the company to provide to Nigeria’s growing energy needs.

Private equity group, Abraaj Capital, has raised $375 million from existing shareholders via rights issue or cash call

2009-11-24T06:00:00.001-05:00

The Dubai-based buy-out firm will be using the proceeds from the sale to invest in real estate and small businesses starting early 2010.

Abraaj is setting up a $500 million vehicle to invest in regional commercial real estate and a $200 million fund to invest in small and medium-sized enterprises. The firm is also looking at aviation, logistics, education and healthcare sectors in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for expansion.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission awarded a generating license to Dangote Industry Power Ltd.

2009-11-24T03:27:00.002-05:00

Dangote plans to generate 135 megawatts of electricity at the proposed plant out of which 46 megawatts will be consumed by its Obajana Cement plant in the central Nigerian state of Kogi. The remaining 89 megawatts will be sold to the national grid.

The regulator has granted 29 licenses to companies to produce power to boost generation to 6,000 megawatts by the end of this year and 10,000 megawatts by 2011.

Dubai-based private equity firm Saffar Capital is launching a private equity fund

2009-11-16T14:35:00.002-05:00

The fund will focus on financial services in the Middle East to take advantage of an improving outlook in the sector.

The fund is the first to be launched by Saffar, which specialises in taking stakes in private equity financial services firms in the region.
Private equity investments are increasingly finding favour in the frontier markets of the Middle East and Africa, as investors once more chase yield in a global environment of low interest rates.

AVCA 8th Annual Conference to be held under auspices of Egypt's Ministry of Investment

2009-11-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

Investors and fund managers descend on Cairo for the African Venture Capital Association's (AVCA) 8th Annual Conference, which is due to take place here in Cairo on 15th - 17th of November. The prominence of the conference is such that it will be held under the auspices of Egypt's Ministry of Investment.

Ghana: Exploit Opportunities in Growing Tourism Sector

2009-10-12T11:44:00.003-04:00

TradeInvest Africa (Cape Town)

Ghana's tourism sector is expected to grow at an average rate of 4.1% over the next two decades, indicating a need to build more tourist accommodation. There is an opportunity to participate in the development of a beach complex in Kokrobite, a popular tourist destination about 30kms west of the Ghanaian capital city of Accra.

The fishing village of Kokrobite is a popular destination for tourists seeking a quiet, tropical paradise with beautiful sandy beaches. There exists a burgeoning demand for day, weekend and longer-term accommodation and European standard restaurant and entertainment facilities, particularly near the beachfront.

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World bank's IFC to raise capital for Africa, Latam fund

2009-10-04T20:15:00.000-04:00

The International Finance Corporation is seeking fresh capital to invest in Latin America and Africa, its chief executive Lars Thunell said Saturday. The investment arm of the World Bank group, aims to raise up to $1 billion from institutions such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds around the world for the new fund

Original post:
World bank’s IFC to raise capital for Africa, Latam fund

Citi Venture Capital International investing $25 million into SkyVision Holdings Limited

2009-10-04T12:29:00.002-04:00

Citi Venture Capital International (CVCI), is going to invest USD25 million into SkyVision Holdings Limited. The investment will be made through a wholly owned subsidiary of the Citigroup Venture Capital International Africa Fund L.P (CVCIAF), a private equity fund advised by Citi Venture Capital International.

SkyVision is a provider of global IP services over satellite and terrestrial fibre optic systems for enterprise, ISP, and carrier class clients in emerging markets. The company has coverage in over 120 countries and currently operates in more than 50 countries around the world, with sales in 2009 estimated to exceed USD80 million. In Africa, Skyvision services the largest and most respected telcos, mobile operators, corporations and public sector clients. In the past five years, the company has achieved growth rates of approximately 50% per year. The company is controlled by Cyphertech and Shamrock, the investment arm of the Roy E. Disney family. Pursuant to the investment, Cyphertech and Shamrock will hold approximately 30 percent each, CVCIAF will hold approximately 23 percent, and the remainder will be held principally by management and employees. Sunil Nair, Managing Director and Head, Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, Citi Venture Capital International, mentioned that investment demonstrates CVCI’s commitment to supporting and further strengthening companies with a proven record of success in Africa.

IMImobile has been picked to provide technology and services to emerging markets telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd.

2009-10-03T09:11:00.003-04:00

IMImobile has been chosen to help MTN standardise its mobile phone and online content in 21 markets in which it operates.

IMImobile said the deal was "a major commercial milestone." Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IMImobile is Venuture Capital firm Spark Ventures PLC biggest holding. It has a 38% stake in the company with a book value of GBP13 million.

This Deal will see IMImobile help South African operator standardise mobile, online content.

Nigeria could sell stakes in its joint ventures with Western oil firms to China

2009-09-30T16:55:00.003-04:00

Minister of State for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia said China would not be given all the reserves it was seeking but that Nigerian state oil firm NNPC could sell stakes in joint ventures with existing oil partners if Beijing offered the right price.

The Chinese made a proposal which Nigeria is considering. They are asking for 6 billion barrels of oil from our reserves, but according to Ajumogobia, Nigeria is not going to give them all of that.

Western oil firms including Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), Chevron (CVX.N) and ExxonMobil (XOM.N), operate in Nigeria through joint ventures with NNPC.

Asked if the state firm could sell its stakes to China, Ajumogobia said:
"It's an option we are also looking at. Why not? If the offer is very good and very attractive why not? NNPC has the right to do whatever it likes with its own share."

Some analysts say the sale of stakes to China by NNPC would likely be challenged by other partners in the ventures and that the prospect of putting a greater proportion of Nigerian oil reserves in foreign hands would face huge political opposition.

Chinese state energy firm CNOOC has identified 23 licenses in Nigeria in which it would like to buy stakes.

Emerging Capital Partners Invests In ananchi Group Holdings, a telecommunications company

2009-09-22T18:59:00.003-04:00

The Africa-focused private equity firm, Emerging Capital Partners has committed $25 million to Wananchi Group Holdings, a telecom company specializing in pay-television and Internet services in Kenya and Tanzania

The equity investment will be used to upgrade and expand Wananchi's network infrastructure, enabling the company to provide east Africa's first triple-play service of digital pay-TV, high-speed Internet and voice-over-Internet protocol services.

ECP disclosed that East Africa has been characterized by limited supply of pay-TV and Internet services due to high costs and inadequate infrastructure.

Virgin Nigeria dropping the U.K. company's brand, Virgin Atlantic and seek fresh funding

2009-09-18T09:59:00.007-04:00

The carrier new brand will be known as Nigerian Eagle Airlines and plans a private placement.

Virgin Atlantic, which has a 49% stake in the Nigerian carrier, has been reassessing its ties in recent months. Nigerian institutional investors hold majority control.

Virgin Nigeria dropped all its international flights in January to focus on what it called its "profitable domestic and regional operations."

Virgin Nigeria was part of an array of international affiliates launched by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, including airlines in Belgium, Australia and the U.S.

Nigeria - Central Bank (CBN) is considering three options to recapitalise the country’s five troubled banks

2009-09-13T23:47:00.003-04:00

The banks are: Intercontinetal Bank; Oceanic Bank; Union Bank; Finbank and Afribank.
The Central Bank is considering three local options aimed at acquisitions of the five troubled banks following the seeming collapse of its offshore investment mission.

The three options which the apex bank is considering are:

Option 1: Rights Issue

In which the apex bank hopes to execute a rights issue, converting the tier two capital (the amount injected) to 80 per cent stake in the affected banks’ shareholding, leaving the other shareholders with 20 per cent.

Option 2: Scheme of Arrangement

The CBN management is said to be considering the alternative of getting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange NSE, to do a “Scheme of Arrangement”. The thinking in the CBN is that this option is the most viable now and if applied, it will involve a legal means of bringing shareholders of these banks to an extra-ordinary General Meeting to agree to a merger or acquisition arrangement.

Option 3: Acquisition

If the first two options fail, the apex bank would then go for the third option which is acquisition.

This involves nominating a bank in the country to acquire any of the five banks and then backing the action with statutory powers.

Emerging markets giant Actis is adjusting to life after the closing of its $2.9bn third fund by building up its IR and communications teams.

2009-08-27T12:39:00.002-04:00

The appointments follow the closing of Actis’ $2.9 billion Emerging Markets 3 Fund in December 2008 – its largest-ever vehicle. Actis has raised smaller real estate funds, including its first dedicated property vehicle for sub-Saharan Africa in 2006, which had more than $350 million of investment capital with leverage.

In this newly-created position, Turtle will manage a seven-strong IR team and report to Actis partner Jonathan Bond, who has been responsible for the firm’s fundraising efforts since before it demerged from CDC Group in 2004. His immediate focus will be communication with the 100 existing institutional investors in Actis’ latest vehicle.

Actis has also revamped its external communications function with the hire of Tashi Lassalle as director of communications. Lassalle, formerly chief marketing officer for listed recruitment company Heidrick & Struggles, has replaced Actis’ incumbent external public relations agency and is mandated to build a permanent communications team.

Breaking News: CBN Appoints new CEO’s for 5 banks, reveals N2.4trn debt

2009-08-14T16:32:00.004-04:00

Source: Proshare Limited

The CBN, this morning, at the Emergency Bankers’ Committee convened by the CBN in Lagos confirmed the rumour that has been making the rounds all week that the CEO and Executive Directors of the following five banks have been removed:

Erastus Akingbola (Intercontinental Bank);
Okey Nwosu (Finbank);
Sebastian Adigwe (Afribank Plc);
Mrs Cecelia Ibru (Oceanic Bank Plc); and
Bartholomew Ebong (Union Bank Plc).

The CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi explains that the result of the special examination done by the joint team from CBN and NDIC reveals excessive credit lending in the following banks – Oceanic Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, Afribank Plc, FinBank plc, and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.

The CBN Governor says that the CBN today injected N400bn tier 2 capital into the 5 banks. This is to be repaid soon from their offer proceeds.

The CBN Governor ANNOUNCES the following appointments:

Mr. John Aboh to take over as CEO of OCEANIC BANK Plc
Mr. Lai Alabi to take over as CEO at INTERCONTINENTAL BANK Plc
Mr. Arah NEBOLISA to take over as CEO at AFRIBANK Plc
Susan Iroche to take over as CEO at FINBANK Plc
Mrs. Funke Osibodu to take over as CEO at UNION BANK Plc

Lamido says there will be no setting up of an asset Management Company or bad loan bank until full declaration of exposures by all banks.

Breaking News....

2009-08-06T09:47:00.001-04:00

BREAKING NEWS: Dangote is the NSE PRESIDENT. A formal announcement to follow by the DG and new President within the hour.

African Capital Alliance raises $200 million

2009-08-03T15:21:00.002-04:00

African Capital Alliance (ACA) announces the first closing of USD 200 million for Capital Alliance Private Equity III (“CAPE III”), a private equity fund which seeks to tap high potential opportunities in sectors such as financial services, oil and gas, power (electricity) supply, communications, manufacturing and services in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. African Capital Alliance mobilizes long-term capital from institutional investors to promote private sector led investments.

The investors in CAPE III include well-known international development finance institutions such as CDC Group, the European Investment Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and Netherlands Development Finance Corporation. In addition, commitments have been made by Nigeria-based institutional investors including First Trustees Nigeria Plc, AIICO Insurance Plc, Africa Re-insurance Corporation and some high net worth individuals.

Breaking News

2009-07-18T11:36:00.001-04:00

ALHAJI ALIKO DANGOTE stepped down from the Council of Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Further updates will be provided next week.

CDC Group commits $50m to African Capital Alliance’s PE Fund III (CAPE III)

2009-07-06T08:33:00.001-04:00

CDC Group, the UK government-backed, emerging-markets fund of funds, has committed $50m to African Capital Alliance’s Private Equity Fund III (CAPE III) as part of its new focus on investing in the world’s poorest countries.

CAPE III targets to make minority and majority investments between $30m and $50m in mid-sized Nigerian companies with growth potential. About 25 per cent of investments will also be in other West African countries and the Gulf of Guinea region.

The fund will back companies that operate in industries which will benefit from regulatory changes in Nigeria, such as electric power. Around half of Nigeria’s population does not have access to electricity, but recent reform in the sector is said to be providing an opening for new entrants to the market.

Actis assembled new Africa team

2009-07-03T10:25:00.002-04:00

UK emerging markets buyout firm Actis has beefed up its Africa operations with the recruitment of a West Africa head, a move that comes after its largest investor, the Government-owned CDC Group, was told to increase its investments on the continent.

IFC acquires Tunisian airport project stakes

2009-07-03T10:06:00.001-04:00

The International Finance Corporation has acquired a 15 percent stake in airport concession company TAV Tunisia for €28 million. The company is currently involved in developing the first two airport PPPs in North Africa.

Equitable Equity

2009-07-01T21:39:00.002-04:00

When multiple partners build a startup, how big a stake should each one get?
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Bernard Madoff has been jailed for the rest of his life...

2009-06-29T13:06:00.001-04:00

International fraudster Bernard Madoff has been jailed for the rest of his life for swindling investors out of billions of dollars.

The 71-year-old was sentenced to 150 years after he, 10 of his victims and lawyers on both sides had addressed the court.

Dozens of those who lost fortunes in his pyramid-based Ponzi investment fraud that lasted decades filled the New York courthouse having spent hours queueing to get seats.

Madoff, a former Nasdaq chairman, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges in March and has since been held in jail.

Victims who lost millions of dollars had described their ruined lives to judge Denny Chin.

Madoff, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a tie, sat and listened as they described how he wrecked their financial security, and urged he be sent to prison for life.

"Life has been a living hell. It feels like the nightmare we can't wake from," said Carla Hirshhorn.

"He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no values," said Tom Fitzmaurice. "He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife Ruth could live a life of luxury beyond belief."

Dominic Ambrosino called it an "indescribably heinous crime" and urged a long prison sentence so "will know he is imprisoned in much the same way he imprisoned us and others." He added: "In a sense, I would like somebody in the court today to tell me how long is my sentence."

Madoff's lawyer had asked a judge to give his client 12 years behind bars. Prosecutors sought the maximum 150-year term.

Merger and Acquisition Interest on Nigerian Banks by Foreign Banks Likely to Happen

2009-06-23T11:41:00.003-04:00

Plans by Nigeria’s central bank to lift the cap on foreign ownership of banks and to encourage mergers and acquisitions will spur interest in the banking system, UBA Capital Research said.

“Speculating on which individual banks could be targets for foreign banks is of limited value, but we do believe that it is likely that banks in the mid-tier segment will attract attention,” said UBA Capital, the brokerage unit of Lagos-based United Bank for Africa Plc. It reiterated its buy recommendations on Access Bank Nigeria Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc and GTBank.

Central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, in his first interview since his appointment on June 3, told the Financial Times of London that he expected a further consolidation in the Nigerian banking industry to bring down the number of banks to about 15 from 24.

The Private equity face of infrastructure

2009-06-19T22:18:00.001-04:00

Adebayo Ogunlesi is the Chairman and Managing Director of Global Infrastructure Partners and is based in New York City.

Bayo previously served as Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Client Officer of Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking Division with senior responsibility for Credit Suisse’s corporate and sovereign investment banking clients. From 2002 to 2004, he was Head of Credit Suisse’s Global Investment Banking Department, responsible for worldwide capital markets (debt and equity), mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and advisory, industry, country and regional banking businesses.

Bayo was previously Head of Global Power, Utilities and Project Finance in 1994, and from 1997-2002, served as Head of the Global Energy Group (power, utilities, oil and gas, chemicals, mining and project finance).
Prior to becoming an investment banker, he was an attorney with the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. From 1980 to 1981, he served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Ogunlesi, more commonly known as Bayo, holds a record that many in the private equity world would envy: the largest first-time fundraise for an independent fund manager. Even more impressive is the fact that he raised GIP's $5.64 billion war chest with a focus on an emerging asset class that was just beginning to be understood by investors. People familar with the native Nigerian credit the suscess to his laser-eyed focus on bringing operational efficiences to infrastructure assets. He is by far the loudest propenent of his strategy - a mainstay of the private equity sphere that is fast becoming mainstream in the infrastructure asset class, thanks in large part to his advocacy. His lean mean management of London's City airport, which GIP bought in concert with AIG affiliate in 2006 for £770 million, is the textbook example of this growing trend.

Five ways to grow the market and create value

2009-06-17T17:26:00.002-04:00

After years of restructuring, reengineering, and downsizing many companies are now emphasizing growth. They are under pressure to do so from three directions: shareholders, competitors, and employees.

Shareholders have become more active and demanding in the US, but increasingly so in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Consider the number of companies that have fired or gently pushed out their CEOs in recent years. Shareholders demand value creation. This is closely linked to corporate growth. The obvious limits of value creation through cost cutting now make revenue growth essential.

Then there is heat from competitors, particularly in industries such as banking, pharmaceuticals, automotive, defense, airlines, and personal computers, which are undergoing consolidation. Here growth is essential if economies of scale in technology development, operations, capacity utilization, marketing, distribution, and network externalities are to be captures. Those companies that fail to expand as fast as competitors will lose competitive and enter a downward spiral. The only options then are expansion or a vicious cycle leading to oblivion.

Finally, employees are an important influence. Employees in an expanding company have greater opportunities for career advancement, financial rewards, job security, and job satisfaction. It is more fun to go work every day and the collective mood is more upbeat in growing company.

While growth is important, it is ot easy. Asked about their target growth, companies in the US and Europe will respond that on average it is between 10 and 15 percent. As the overall economic growth rate of the countries in which they trade is about 2 to 3 percent, there is no way all of them can achieve their targets.

Put differently: add up the five-year projected market shares of all the competitors in an industry and you get a figure well over 100 percent. For every company that achieves its growth target, another will be well short. To count among the successful, a company needs a wise growth strategy. Developing this involves two major decisions: the direction and the mode of growth.

There are five possible growth directions:
- from current business by gaining market share and increasing market penetration;
- in the same business, but in a different geographic location;
- by vertical integration, either backward or forward;
- in another related business;
- in a different, unrelated business.

A company does not have to pick only one such direction. However, it is unlikely that simultaneous pursuit in all directions is wise. Instead, given limited resources, a company should determine the relative emphasis to place on each chosen growth direction.

The most promising growth directions in today's environment are: market penetration, globalization (particularly where emerging country markets are concerned), and forward integration.

Zain Africa Mobile Networks up for sale...

2009-06-15T18:51:00.011-04:00

Vivendi Universal has emerged as one of the suitors for Zain’s operations in Africa. The deal would be worth an estimated Sh936 billion ($12 billion).

If Vivendi succeeds, it would mark an ironical return of the company to the Kenyan market, after selling its 60 per cent stake in KenCell — the predecessor of Zain Kenya — to Celtel in 2005, for $230 million. Celtel in turn sold the business to the Kuwait-based company, Zain, in August last year, as part of the larger Celtel Africa, which spans 12 African countries, for $3.4 billion.

South Africa’s MTN is said to be another contender.

Vivendi is one of the largest European entertainment companies. It has a 56 per cent stake in a French mobile network — SFR — that offers mobile services in Re-Union Islands and Morocco, and it is likely that this is the brand the African operation will don.

MTN has operations in much of the region, but Kenya has remained elusive for it. It unsuccessfully attempted to buy KenCell in 2004.

Zain has grown the Kenyan operation.

It has, for instance, built the 13 per cent market share it had at the time of the takeover, to over 20 per cent currently.

However, it sill remains a distant second to Safaricom with a market share of about 70 per cent.

For Sh930 billion, Zain could make a handsome profit for the company it bought for $3.4 billon.

Zain Group has posted record results for the financial year ended December 31, last year, with revenues increasing by 26 per cent to reach $7.441 billion, although fourth quarter results were hit by currency fluctuations, according to an unnamed company official.

Zain, which has operations in 22 countries across the Middle East and Africa, increased its customer base by 50 per cent to reach 63.5 million subscribers, while net profit increased by 6 per cent compared with 2007 to reach $1.2 billion.

Call for higher education support fund

2009-03-23T09:04:00.005-04:00

Writer: Karen MacGregor
University World News

In Africa, Sixteen African ministers attending a preparatory meeting for the Unesco World Conference on Higher Education, to be held in Paris in July, called for improved financing of universities and a support fund to strengthen training and research in key areas. The ministers also want improved governance and quality assurance, and diversification of programmes to enable the sector to meet a wider range of needs, according to a conference statement circulated last week.

Africa's Regional Conference on Higher Education, or CRESA, was held in Dakar from 10 to 13 November last year and was organised by Unesco's Regional Office for Education in Africa, in partnership with the government of Senegal. The theme was "New Dynamics on Higher Education and Research: Strategies for change and development".

There were 241 participants from 27 African countries including two prime ministers, 16 higher education ministers, 23 heads of universities and a range of international organisations including Unesco, the African Union, EU, Association of African Universities, Association for the Development of Education in Africa and World Bank.

Following a meeting held during the CRESA conference, the 16 ministers called for more efficient policies to support national and international cooperation, to boost the revitalisation of higher education in Africa.

They urged governments and partners to increase spending on higher education, expand the involvement of women and prioritise science and technology for Africa's development. A Support Fund for Higher Education was proposed, to bolster efforts to expand and improve the sector and to develop training and research in key areas like science and technology.

The ministers said good governance in higher education should be strengthened to achieve greater autonomy, transparency and accountability in management. Diversification of training programmes was needed along with efficient quality assurance mechanisms that would provide a basis for harmonising qualifications.

South African Minister of Education Naledi Pandor called on African states to ensure the autonomy of higher education institutions so they could fully perform their role of creating and disseminating knowledge at the service of an African renaissance.

The aim of the Dakar regional conference was to bring higher education decision-makers, stakeholders and partners together to provide Africa with some shared higher education benchmarks and produce guidelines for the 2009 world conference. The meeting reviewed progress made in the past decade and formulated strategies for the future.

Chair of the CRESA organising committee, Professor Ahmadou Lamine Ndiaye, said considerable improvements had been made in higher education in several areas, including access, equity - especially greater involvement of women - and good governance.

The report said there had been more awareness of the role that should be played by knowledge as the driving force of development. It said the will to reform higher education systems to achieve improvements in relevance and in quality, particularly by establishing monitoring and evaluation, quality assurance and accreditation mechanisms was also more evident.

Efforts to diversify provision and structures as well as sources of financing and to improve links between higher education, the state and private sector had occurred while increasing stress had been placed on information and communication technologies. Sub-regional and regional networks had been created to strengthen inter-African cooperation, exchange of experiences and harmonisation of policies.

But the stock-taking also revealed numerous challenges, said the conference report. One was that access to higher education remained generally very low and Africa was far from achieving the critical mass of skilled people needed to secure its development. The higher education participation rate fluctuated around 5% to 7% and was aggravated by a fairly low success rate, particularly in the first cycle of most universities.

In many countries there was persistent mismatch between the content of training programmes and needs of the market - reflected by high rates of graduate unemployment in some key economic sectors that woefully lacked qualified personnel. An imbalance also existed between numbers of students in the arts and humanities and those in science, technology and vocational streams - especially among women.

Further challenges were lack of reliable statistical data to inform policy and building an African higher education community, as well as the need to construct coherent education systems from pre-school to higher education and the inclusion of private education sas a fully-fledged component with the same demands as public education.

The conference reached conclusions in a number of areas, including: access; relevance, efficiency and effectiveness; quality assurance; research and innovation; partnerships and cooperation; creation of an African Higher Education Area; and funding.

Africa needed to increase and broaden student access to higher education with financial support for students from poor and marginalised communities and greater representation of women across broad fields of study, participants at the conference decided.

There was a call for a diverse range of institutions such as research-intensive universities, undergraduate universities, polytechnics, teacher training colleges and rural institutions. Also, private sector participation and open and distance learning should be encouraged, "with appropriate quality assurance mechanisms in place".

In terms of relevance, efficiency and effectiveness, the conference concluded that institutions should be supported to serve the priorities and needs of Africa's development through socio-culturally relevant curricula. According to the conference report:

"Development plans should match graduate output with national human resource needs in order to minimise graduate unemployment." Further, there should be technical, vocational and entrepreneurship training to prepare graduates for the world of work.

African indigenous knowledge should be included in curricula and disseminated widely, and values of democracy, sustainable development, peace, conflict prevention and resolution as well as ethical values, behaviours and attitudes should be "inculcated in students and staff".

The conference called for governance and management of institutions to be strengthened in ways conducive to "greater autonomy, transparency and accountability", for ICTs and open and distance learning to be used more widely, and for credible information systems and statistical databases to enable evidence-based planning and decision-making.

The meeting concluded that sub-regional and regional quality assurance networks should be established "to promote cooperation among African experts and common frames of reference for standards-setting and monitoring", that regulatory mechanisms for cross-border provision should be developed, and that capacity to deliver quality assurance should be strengthened.

Institutional and human capacity to generate quality research should also be strengthened through funding, training and collaboration with well-established researchers in and outside Africa. Also, quality documentary resources should be established, research and development should be promoted and rewarded - especially that targeting Africa's development problems - and innovation incubators and science parks should be created.

The report stated, that north-south cooperation should be based on strong structures and sustainable frameworks, research-driven cooperation should tackle shared regional cross-border challenges, and cooperation and partnerships should be mutually beneficial and structured to discourage the brain drain while strengthening links with the African Diaspora.

The conference called for the creation of an African Higher Education Area and regional centres of excellence to facilitate the exchange of experiences and expertise, regional student and staff mobility, joint degrees and mutual recognition of qualifications. African language teaching should be strengthened "to promote communication and regional integration".

Finally, the report said there should be a national commitment to fund higher education adequately with African governments giving priority to the sector and allocating more resources to it, while cost-sharing or cost-recovery as well as the diversification of funding sources should be encouraged.

"An African Higher Education Trust Fund should be established to supplement the efforts of African governments and institutions to expand and strengthen higher education institutions."

The conclusions of the conference helped to define a vision for, and the role and challenges facing, higher education, said the report. They would enable higher education and states "to make choices, opt for orientations and design plans of action for the development of post-secondary education in Africa in the years ahead".

Nigerian economy best for investment in Africa

2009-03-05T17:17:00.004-05:00

ABUJA—In spite of the hype on the effect of the global economic meltdown on the nation’s economy, the Minister of Works, Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal has said the country’s economy was strong and offered the best investment opportunity in Africa.

Dr. Lawal who stated this while welcoming the proposal by the Turkish Construction Giant TASYAPI Construction Undertaking to participate in the construction industry in Nigeria, said the fact the country is enjoying stable polity glitters its fortune as investment hobnob in the continent.

Led by the General Manager and member of the Board of TASYAPI Construction Undertaking, Mr. Goksel Bodur, the Minister assured the Turkish Firm that Nigerian economy was strong and the polity stable and offered the best investment opportunity in Africa.

He recalled that Nigeria and Turkey have a very cordial bilateral relationship and told the Turkish delegation that they had nothing to fear.

He said the coming of the Turkish company into the Nigerian construction industry would strengthen the existing cordial bilateral ties between Nigeria and Turkey.

He urged the company to comply with legal stipulations for business operations in Nigeria, and explore their areas of interest with relevant officials in the Ministry.

The Minister also called on them to participate in joint venture schemes with the Ministry to provide beautiful and affordable housing schemes for Nigerians, noting that the sector was very viable and lucrative.

He said the Federal Government will welcome the injection of international capital and investment in the housing sector to ease the problem of affordable and decent housing in the country.

Addressing the Minister earlier, leader of the Turkish delegation Mr. Goksel Bodur said they were the third largest construction company in Turkey and were currently involved in construction projects in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Written by Chris Ochayi
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

FURTHER GUIDELINES ON THE OPERATIONS OF THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET

2009-02-17T23:52:00.001-05:00

Nigeria will stabilize the naira following tumble, Soludo says

2009-02-17T23:34:00.006-05:00

Nigeria will stabilize the naira without squandering its more than $50 billion of foreign reserves after the currency fell about 20 percent against the dollar, said central bank Governor Chukwuma Soludo.

Policy makers have a “flexible” exchange-rate policy, Soludo said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Currency-trading restrictions imposed last week are “temporary,” designed to prevent the central bank from running down international reserves as Russia has done to support the ruble.

The naira began tumbling as oil, which accounts for 90 percent of Nigeria’s export earnings, started its 74 percent drop from a record in July. The central bank banned interbank trading in the currency last week, spurring the resurgence of an unregulated market where the naira’s exchange rate is about 6.5 percent weaker than the central bank’s target rate.

Africa’s biggest oil producer and the fifth-largest supplier of crude to the U.S. has enough reserves to meet all its foreign- debt obligations “even for years,” Soludo said.

Foreign-currency reserves fell 5.7 percent to $58.4 billion from $61.9 billion a month earlier, the central bank said on Nov. 7. As of Jan. 22, reserves dropped to $50.9 billion as the central bank stepped in to buy naira after it reached a record low of 161.2 per dollar in interbank trading on Jan. 13.

Liberia’s First Microfinance Institution Starts Operations with IFC’s Support

2009-02-15T00:41:00.005-05:00

Liberia’s first commercial microfinance bank has received a banking license and is making loans to the public, boosting the country’s economy by providing finance to its smallest businesses, many of which have had no access to financial services.

IFC is a founding shareholder in AccessBank Liberia, which received a preliminary banking license from Liberia’s central bank.

IFC has supported AccessBank Liberia through every stage of its development. AccessBank Liberia looks forward to a continued partnership with IFC to increase financial services to Liberia’s smallest entrepreneurs and help support the country’s economic development.

AccessBank Liberia is the result of a two-year partnership between IFC and Liberia’s government. IFC initially worked with partners at Liberia’s Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and within the World Bank Group to build a regulatory framework based on global best practices in microfinance. IFC will continue to work with Liberia’s central bank to strengthen its capacity to supervise microfinance lending.

The successful launch of AccessBank Liberia demonstrates IFC’s commitment to Liberia and strong belief in the potential of the country’s private sector. IFC Africa strategy involve supporting Africa’s smallest businesses and entrepreneurs by helping to extend financial services to people and places where they are most needed.

AccessBank Liberia was established in partnership with Access Holding. IFC previously worked with Access Holding to establish successful microfinance banks in Madagascar and Tanzania. The European Investment Bank and the African Development Bank are also shareholders in the new institution.

Breaking Views: Microfinance Risk? What risk?

2009-02-12T11:39:00.003-05:00

Microfinance entrepreneur Dave Van Niekerk thinks Afraica is a safe bet and is lending the money to prove it - even though his customers don't have bank account between them.

Feeling Blue?
Blue Financial Services (www.blue.co.za) began life in 2001 as a finance provider for low-income earners in South Africa unable to afford mainstream financial services. By 2003 it had expanded into Botswana and by the year ending February 2005 it saw turnover reach R80 million ($11m). A swift listing on tha Altx board of the JSE in October 2006 and capital injections from AIG and IFC among others sponsored an ambitious expansion programme that sees it now operating 173 branches across Soth Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Lesotho, Namibia and Kenya, employing over 1,000 people.

David Van Niekerk founded Blue Financial Services in 2001 and has led it since as CEO. He has worked in microfinance since 1997 when he joined Unity Financial Services, later becoming a shareholder and the operational manager. Unity was eventually sold to Theta investments to become part of its microfinance stable, which was then merged into South African loans provider African Bank, to become African Bank Investments Limited. Van Niekerk held various senior management posts there until leaving for Blue. He was officially to Blue's board in October 2005.

Q. Why does your company Blue focus on microfinance for the bottom of the pyramid?

The opportunities in the microfinance area across the continent are just enormous - banks are simply not servicing this market. In Zambia for instance, you can’t get a home improvement loan or even a loan to buy a vehicle from a commercial bank - the restrictions and costs are too high.
The majority of our customers live on a subsistence living, and they don’t have a large savings base. Many of them don’t have any savings, they live from hand to mouth, so the smallest emergency expense will set them back dramatically and they need to have access to capital to fix the problem.

Q. How successful has the venture been so far?

We’re currently the top-listed company on the ALTX, with a market capitalisation of about two billion rand (U S$281m). We have strong international shareholders like IFC, part of the World Bank; AIG, one of the largest insurers in the world; Stanlib from South Africa, and the Dutch Development Bank recently also placed funding with us. We have a nice investor base, and a lot of international flavour.
We want to become Africa’s biggest credit provider, and our intention is to be in the majority of African countries in the next five years. We’ll go where others fear to tread. Our Kenyan operation is continuing despite the political chaos and will continue, and the people that pull out now are the ones that are going to get hurt.

Q. What financial services do people in this market need?

People primarily need day-to-day finance - they need salary advances, which is instant finance. Second, they need term loans, which are essentially personal loans that can be used for a variety of purposes from home improvement to an emergency. Our third most popular product is the home improvement loan. In our experience the majority of our clients don’t want loans or advances paid into a bank account, they want to receive cash.
It’s not as easy as dealing with a high-profile customer: it’s a more labour-intensive market. We spend, on average, half an hour with each customer to get things done and we pay out advances or credit on average within an hour. People need access to credit in a hurry - they’ve got jobs they’ve got to maintain, and they don’t want to go and apply and then come back for an answer three weeks later. They will often travel large distances from rural to urban areas to get finance.
We give typically home loans of up to 350,000 rand ($49,000) - an area where the banks won’t play. We’ll give education loans, home improvement loans and normal personal loans, and advanced credit with fixed repayments over time.

Q. Why don’t the banks serve these customers?

The banks are not geared for this market. It’s not their fault they’re not geared, it’s a very tough market and there isn’t necessarily all the information to hand to grant credit.
Most of this population is also unbanked. So, if you’re a bank, you’re looking at banking that person first, to get them a track record, and a history to be able to grant the credit on. Banks look at this market from a very different perspective - we don’t measure our customers’ credit ability or credit worthiness from his bank account, we look at a number of factors. Banks like to have a customer with them before they will grant credit. So you first have to bank the population - it’s a chicken and egg situation, do you bank them first or lend to them first? In Tanzania, 35% of civil servants don’t have bank accounts. They get paid by collecting cheques from banks assigned by the government, but they don’t have an account there. These are civil servants, your more educated, higher level employees - it just illustrates the limited nature of banking in Africa.

Q. What can microfinance do for economic growth in Africa?

There are many stats showing that if you lift the GDP of a country by 10%, you raise the bottom income earners by 3% - you’ve taken 3% of the population out of poverty. How do you do that? You create employment, you give potential entrepreneurs access to funding.
In Zambia, most of our customers are existing civil servants who run a small business on the sideline; where they have agricultural crops, they have a poultry business, they do repair work, and they do it through loans they get from us. We have one lady there who borrowed money from us to start a chicken business. Over a year that has blossomed and she now makes three times her teacher’s salary through her business. That’s the kind of access to finance that people require.

Q. Africa’s low-income market is perceived to be credit-risky - would you agree?

In our experience, people who have new access to credit don’t want to disappoint the lender because they’ll never be able to borrow from you again, and they want to continue that relationship. So, we have a much better payment history in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa than we do in South Africa, and strangely enough the more informal or rural the country, the better the payment culture.
It’s essentially about responsible lending - the customer has to be able to afford the instalment, so you adjust the term, the period and the value of the advance to the use of the loan to ensure they can afford it. We match the term of the repayment to the product - we won’t give somebody a school fee loan over three years, it must be a one-year loan.

Q. How do you check the creditworthiness of your customers?

We have a scoring model that we use to determine the customer’s affordability and whether he should get the loan, and that involves working with ITC bureaux and credit bureaux in these countries, often using data shared between banks and financial institutions. We base our model on factors such as length of employment, how much the customer earns, how long he has lived at the current address, and a number of different aspects of his personal life.

Q. Do you back up your loans with money management support or mentoring?

We’ve only now moved into SMME lending - small business loans - and yes, we do. There is a lot of hand-holding involved; we give the person coaching, mentoring, we manage his bank account with him for the first few months.
We’ve got education courses for our customers and education booklets to train people on budgeting, managing their money, how to use a loan, why not to use a loan, how to repay a loan, what the effects of interest rates are. This is all designed to educate our customer base, because for many this is their first experience of credit. When we opened in Malawi we were the first formal microfinancier in the market, as they had only previously had loan sharks who would break their kneecaps. They knocked us over - we couldn’t keep up with demand for the first few weeks. It’s a big education process.

Original Article: Africa Investor

Can you make money in African infrastructure?

2009-02-12T08:20:00.008-05:00

Brian Myerson, joint chairman of PME Infrastructure Managers, says you can, and he's raised a $180m fund to prove it

Brian Myerson is a director of PME African Infrastructure Opportunities and joint chairman of PME Infrstructure Managers Limited, which will mange the funds of PME Afraican Infrastructure Opportunities. He is also CEO of Pinnacle Capital Group (www.principalcapital.com), which he founded in November 2004. Pinnacle Capital Group specialises in alternative investment management and is one of four joint venture partners in PME Infrastructure Managers.

In 1993, Myerson co-founded Active Value and was a pioneer in actvist investing in the UK, Continental Europe and South Africa. He has also been on the boards of several listed UK companies.

Once described as one of the City’s "most feared corporate raiders", Myerson has turned his activist investor mindset to African infrastructure through the creation of PME African Infrastructure Opportunities, an AIM-listed investment fund.
"Infrastructure is literally top of every African government official’s agenda at the moment," says Myerson.

He believes the current environment is perfect for private equity investment in infrastructure due to a number of factors coming into play at the same time. First, the worldwide boom in demand for mineral resources is a fantastic opportunity for Africa. But to fully benefit Africa needs the mines and supporting infrastructure - such as roads, railways and ports - to get the stuff out of the ground and shipped to places such as India and China.
Second, peace has taken hold and democracy is spreading across large parts of Africa, significantly improving the investment climate. At the same time, African governments are starting to embrace capitalism. They are desperate for inward investment and going out of their way to bring down regulatory barriers. Finally, South Africa and many other African countries have experienced extended periods of economic growth but infrastructure development has not kept up.

"Just being in Africa and knowing people in the investment banking industry means I’m being shown potential deals all the time," says Myerson. "People are desperately looking for equity investments in infrastructure-related projects and that’s why we put this fund together."

Read More..

Integrity Counts

2009-02-12T07:51:00.004-05:00

Vimal Shah, CEO of east African FMCG giant Bidco, has built a household name by matching business sense and commitment with firm ethics. He explains his vision to Alison Lock, Africa Investors.

It isn’t an easy time to be doing business in Kenya at the moment, but Vimal Shah, founder and head of the Bidco empire, has weathered a few storms in his time. "It’s a phase we have to go through and it’s good to learn from," he says stoically of the current political upheaval.

"These are our peak months, but they’ve been the opposite," he says. "It’s disrupted the distribution systems and the way people work, and in Uganda we’re down by about 50% from normal levels."

It was a similar story 15 years ago, during the 1992 multiparty elections in Kenya, when his small consumer goods company, producing and selling edible oils, fats, soaps and margarines was in its crucial expansion stage.

"It was a very tough period for us when we started off. Interest rates went from 15% to 80% per annum. The exchange rate was also very high, worse than it is at the moment in Kenya, it was very hard to operate. Lots of companies didn’t make it."

Bidco did survive, however, and has since grown from an idea conceived out of his father’s textile business into a household name with production plants in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania distributing 26 brands across 14 countries. Shah’s ambitions for his business now stretch continent-wide: "Africa’s per capita consumption is very low. It can only go up. We have a goal - 2030 - by which time we want to be all over Africa in this industry."

Read More..

South Africa's Treasury will provide electricity utility Eskom with loan guarantees of 175.97 billion rand

2009-02-11T23:38:00.002-05:00

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's Treasury will provide electricity utility Eskom with loan guarantees of 175.97 billion rand over the next 5 years to help it raise funds for spending requirements.

The Treasury said in its 2009 Budget Review, released on Wednesday, that the guarantees were in addition to a 60 billion rand, three-year direct loan to the company announced last year.

Eskom , which is battling to meet growing demand, plans to spend 343 billion rand over five years to boost capacity but a global credit crisis had raised borrowing costs making it different for the company to raise finance.

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South Africa invests $16 billion to create jobs, cut poverty

2009-02-11T23:27:00.004-05:00

South Africa will invest an additional 161 billion rand over the next three years to create jobs and reduce poverty as the effects of a global financial crisis weigh on the economy.

The government has allocated 25 billion rand to provinces to expand no-fee schools, reduce infant and child mortality and improve welfare services.

The government will concentrate on its expanded public works programme to try and rein in mounting job losses, mainly in the mining and manufacturing sectors, where shrinking exports and lower commodity prices place tens of thousands of jobs at risk.

The government will spend 4.1 billion rand on the public works programme and an additional 7.9 billion rand for housing and municipal infrastructure.

A further 5.4 billion rand will go to improve the criminal justice system and increase the number of police officials from 183,000 last year to over 204,000 in 2011/12.

S.Africa ramps up spending to fight slowing growth

2009-02-11T23:23:00.001-05:00

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa ramped up spending in its 2009 budget and cut taxes to counter a global slowdown and boost an economy seen limping to its lowest rate of growth in more than a decade.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel also delayed the introduction of mineral royalties until next year as miners struggle amid falling commodity prices and easing global demand.

Read More

Angola's government will cut spending in 2009

2009-02-11T23:12:00.004-05:00

Angola's government will cut spending in 2009 and bolster efforts to diversify the oil dependent economy to counter the global economic slowdown.

The government would continue to invest in key sectors like agriculture in a bid to improve the lives of ordinary Angolans -- an estimated two-thirds live on less than $2 a day.

The country's Economy minister Manuel Nunes said "We will continue to carry out efforts to fight hunger, poverty and implement key public investments."

The government, which in December forecast the economy in 2009 to grow 11.8 percent, has also said it could revise these estimates in the face of the global economic slowdown.

It has also pledged to spend $50 billion to build one million new homes for the poor in the next five years.

RAISING FUNDS FOR THE SMART & SERIOUS ENTREPRENEUR

2009-02-11T22:16:00.001-05:00

We're expecting $400,000 in revenue this year and considering seeking outside capital for the first time. What do investors usually want in terms of percentage of ownership and rate of return?
The answer, in two words: a lot. Which makes sense, because the investors are taking a lot of risk. Out of any 10 investments, half will fail completely. Of the remaining five, two will break even and two will return a couple of times the investment. The profit needs to come from the last company, which means that every one them has to have the potential of being a home run.

What's a home run? In an angel's ideal world, an equity investment of $100,00 would turn into $1 million to $3 million in five to seven years. Angels won't complain about a lower return, however, if they can exit more quickly.

You may have to give away a large stake to get the money you need. Whereas a tech company with your level of revenue might be valued at $4 million to $5 million, a toffee maker probably is worth from $1 million to $2 million. If an angel estimates that your company is worth $1 million, then gives you $250,000, the investor will get a 20 percent stake. That's because the size of the stake is determined by the postmoney valuation of the company - in this example, $1 million plus the $250,000 investment. If you can show that sales are growing rapidly, you may have some leverage to negotiate a higher valuation. But may be not. Consumer products is a risky sector; even if your toffee is already on grocery store shelves, a larger company could drop its prices and drive you out.

Don't want to give up a large chunk of your company, only to see it sold off? You could approach friends and family members instead. Unlike a professional investor, Grandma probably can't tell you how to find a great new VP of marketing. On the other hand, she is much less likely to demand a full-ratchet anti-dilution provision. And there's something else to keep in mind. Like VCs, angels are increasingly asking for their shares to come in the form of participating preferred stock, which ranks higher than common stock. In an exit, your angels will receive the face value of their original investment plus any accrued dividends (usually worth about 8 percent a year) before you or any friends-and-family investors receive a cent. then if there's any money left over, the angels share in the rest of the pie. If the pie is big enough for all to share, great. If not? Well, you're in for an uncomfortable conversation with Grandma

This Blog Post was adapted from " Tough questions, smart answers ASK Inc." from the November 2008 issue of INC. Magazine.

USA - Breaking News

2009-02-10T13:15:00.006-05:00

Senate passes $838B STIMULUS PLAN. The plan was approved by vote of 61 to 37.

Pres. Obama on the economy:
- hails passage of senate stimulus bill
- plan will save or create "up to 4 million jobs"
- "we can use this crisis & turn it into an opportunity"
- middle-class tax cuts " the best way" to help
- "I expect to be judged by results"

Read More

AllTech Ventures Management Adding Value beyond Capital to Entrepreneur's Project

2009-02-09T09:47:00.005-05:00

Good initiative to provide financial, technical and managerial support to ensure long-term success of businesses or entrepreneur's project that will ultimately provide exceptional returns for both the entrepreneur and investors.

AllTech Ventures Management is the Allegiance Technologies Limited (a subsidiary of Steersman Enterprises, Inc.) vehicle for entrepreneurship development for technology creators, and venture creation services and resources for entrepreneurs committed to bridging the gap between technical ideas and viable companies.

AllTech partner with entrepreneurs to build leading evolutionary technology companies. Founders face significant challenges today in planning, staffing, launching, and financing new ventures. AllTech understand the gap that exists between great ideas and sustainable growth companies. AllTech Ventures Management provides extensive services and resources designed to turn great ideas into scalable enterprises. Portfolio companies receive:

• Access to proven funding, team-building, and customer networks
• Hands-on consultation from our experienced venture staff
• Technical expertise, to support product development, from one of the region’s leading research institutions
• Valuable infrastructure, such as advanced computer and biotechnology labs

The AllTech team is drawn from top start-ups, high ranked corporations, and world-class universities. AllTech Ventures Management professionals have an established record of excellence in the tasks they have dedicated themselves to — from academics to operating businesses.

AllTech Ventures Management draws upon the start-up, corporate, venture capital and management consulting experience of its founders to foster successful entrepreneurship and the management of technological innovation.

AllTech Ventures Management venture building activities includes:

VentureAccelerator Program (VA)
VA is a program open to Entrepreneurs committed to creating new companies based on Allegiance Technologies innovations. Once registered into the program,
VA company founders receive intense, hands-on assistance with a range of new business processes, including market validation, business planning, staffing and initial funding through grants and/or equity investment.

Technology Advancement Program (TAP)
TAP is a venture incubator that partners with entrepreneurs to build early-stage companies. TAP expedites the maturation of young firms by providing extensive hands-on business support from experienced and entrepreneurial staff, access to funding sources, technical expertise and turn-key infrastructure.

The Technology Advancement Program (TAP) staff is comprised of seasoned veterans of technology startups and venture capital firms who will provide:

• business advice and support
• product planning
• project management
• program management
• market intelligence
• introductions
• access to funding
• other critical assistance that can accelerate the growth of your technology venture.

AllTech Venture Creation programs provide to entrepreneurs in the emerging markets of Africa. We seek opportunities in multiple industries including wireless, digital media, software and service companies.

Submit business plan: bizplan@steersmanenterprises.com

Unleashing ideas with venture capital

2009-02-09T09:42:00.001-05:00

There are many Nigerians with fantastic ideas that require capital to start or grow their existing businesses. Accessing the needed money from banks or other financial institutions is usually difficult not because all the ideas lack credit but there are certain factors that the lenders contend with it. In addition to funds, many people with ideas also need a partner to work with.

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UBS to start Private Equity Investing

2009-02-06T23:20:00.001-05:00

UBS Global Asset Management is planning to start a private equity investment division before year-end as an offshoot of its Infrastructure Asset Management business. The firm closed its flagship UBS International Infrastructure Fund at $1.5 billion with commitments from institutional investors globally. UBS is planning to commence a second international fund next year and is now marketing a Middle East and North Africa-focused infrastructure strategy. The firm is also looking to invest in Chinese and Latin American infrastructure later next year.

Investors accuse of banks inhibiting market recovery

2009-02-06T11:51:00.001-05:00

As the Nigerian capital market continues to wallow in the troubled waters of prolonged loss of value, investors and operators are railing accusations against the banking sector for their die-hard posture on recovering margin loans, an instrument that played a crucial role during the market boom period. Read More

What is Private Equity?

2009-02-06T11:23:00.002-05:00

- Private equity can be divided generally into two streams, fund investing and company investing. Fund investing is essentially one level removed from company investing, as the fund will in turn invest in underlying portfolio companies. For this reason company investing is often called "direct" investing.

- Fund investments are in turn divided into primary and secondary. A primary investment is a commitment to invest in a new fund which is as yet unformed. A secondary investment is the purchase and transfer of an interest in an existing fund from another investor.

- Direct private equity investing, i.e., at the company rather than the fund level, can be described as typically being an investment of an equity nature in a company which is not listed on any public equity market. While there are a number of possible exceptions, this definition remains broadly true.

- All private equity investing, whether at the fund or company level, can be subdivided into buyout and venture. Buyout transactions typically include debt and involve established and usually profitable companies. Venture transactions typically do not include debt and involve young, even start-up companies and some element of technological innovation.

- Fundamental to a proper appreciation of how private equity funds work is an understanding of the difference between allocated, committed, drawndown and invested capital. Allocated capital represents that part of the overall asset mix which has been set aside for investment in private equity. Committed capital is that amount of allocated capital which has been committed. Drawndown capital is that part of committed capital which has been paid on demand. Invested capital is that part of drawndown capital which has actually been invested in portfolio companies (the other main use of drwandown capital being the payment of fees and expenses).

- The bulk of private equity funds are these days typically structured as institutional limited partnerships, though other legal forms exist, including some which are quoted and/or aimed at least in part at retail investors.

- A private equity fund may be thought of as a stream of cashflows (both into and out of the fund) which are essentially unpredictable both as to their timing and amount.

- Sole investment powers rest with the GP (manager) of the fund. Thus all private equity fund investors are wholly passive in the strict legal sense.

- Fundraising typically takes at 3-year intervals, although some funds, such as secondary funds, have in recent years been investing more rapidly, and thus fundraising at shorter intervals. This phenomenon also occurred with venture funds during the bubble period.

The Foundational 12P’s of Vision Empowerment

2009-02-05T06:50:00.002-05:00

Book Launch Campaign Plan

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Fiction & Literature marketing book

Improved Infrastructure Key To Economic, Social Progress In Africa

2009-02-04T08:45:00.005-05:00

Addressing an African Union (AU) summit focused on enhancement of the continent’s poor infrastructure, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said today that public works were the cornerstone to economic and social progress.

“Africa needs good roads, schools and hospitals; as well as reliable and efficient water services, electricity grids and telecom networks, while information and communications technologies must also be a bigger part of Africa's future,” Mr. Ban told leaders of the 53-State organization, meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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World Bank Grants Nigeria $150 million Agricultural Loan

2009-02-02T23:14:00.004-05:00

The Board of the World Bank last week in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of $150 million (N21 billion) for Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) in Nigeria. The IDA credit, which is payable in 40 years with a moratorium of 10 years, has a service charge of 0.75 per cent and it is interest-free.

The CADP is designed to strengthen agricultural production systems as well as facilitate access to markets for targeted value chains among small and medium scale commercial farmers in the five participating states in the country. The beneficiary states are Cross River, Enugu, Lagos, Kaduna , and Kano.

The CADP, which will be implemented over a five-year period, starting from April 16, 2009 and closing December 31, 2014, has two components: Agricultural Production and Commercialisation and Rural Infrastructure.

EOI for Sustainable Forestry Fund for Sub-Saharan Africa

2009-02-02T12:08:00.007-05:00

CDC Group plc ("CDC"), the UK government-owned fund of funds, is seeking preliminary proposals from fund managers for the formation and management of a commercial fund that will invest primarily in sustainable forestry in Sub-Saharan Africa.

CDC anticipates providing up to US$100m to the selected fund, to be supplemented by additional capital from sponsors or private investors.

Download press release: EOI for Sustainable Forestry Fund for Sub-Saharan Africa

Why Venturing Abroad Still Makes Sense for Fund Investors

2009-02-02T09:41:00.001-05:00

Some people have pulled dollars from foreign-stock funds as their performance has tanked. But thinking global is still a smart way to go.

N500m private equity fund to be float by BGL

2009-02-02T08:27:00.005-05:00

BGL Plc has planned to float a N500m private equity fund, which will be used to improve activities and take advantage of the various opportunities in the markets where the company operates.

In the coming months, the company would introduce three funds into the financial market. The funds, which included the BGL Infrastructure Fund, BGL Mutual Fund, Real Estate Fund.

Company Profile: Pan African Resources plc

2009-01-30T14:01:00.005-05:00

Pan African is a mining, exploration, and development company with operations solely on the African continent with a focus on gold.

The Company was incorporated in England and Wales, as an Internet Company, called Viking Internet PLC in 2000. During that same year it was listed on AIM for the first time. After a strategic decision was made to change the core focus of the Company, the name followed. Viking Internet PLC became an investment vehicle operating under the name of White Knight Investments PLC.

On 3 December 2003, after making the tactical decision to focus on the natural resources sector, White Knight Investments PLC completed the acquisition of Mistral Resources Development Corporation (Mistral), a company with two gold projects, one in Ghana and one in Mozambique. The acquisition, in effect, constituted a reverse takeover of the Company under the AIM rules, and on 14 September 2004 the Company was readmitted to AIM as Pan African Resources PLC – a gold exploration and development company with assets in Africa.

On 27 July 2007, Pan African Resources added three gold producing mines to the portfolio of assets already held in Africa. The Barberton Mining Operations consisting of the Fairview, Sheba and New Consort mines was added to provide Pan African Resources with increased cash flow in order to move the projects in other parts of Africa forward. The transaction constituted a reverse takeover according to the AIM Rules and Class Tests with a number of conditions, which had to be fulfilled, this warranted suspension from the exchange. The company was suspended from 20 December 2006 to 4 July 2007 as a result of the regulatory approval taking longer than expected.

On 4 July 2007 Pan African, after all the conditions precedent had been fulfilled, posted a circular to the shareholders as well as being readmitted to AIM for trading. On 27 July 2007, the shareholders voted in favour of the transaction. The transaction became effective on 31 July 2007 with Pan African completing an inward dual listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s AltX as well as the last conditions of the transaction.

This transaction completed Pan African’s transformation from being a junior gold explorer to being both a mid-tier gold producer whilst still retaining its focus on gold exploration in Africa.

URL
http://www.panafricanresources.com

Mining Week Deals

2009-01-30T13:39:00.004-05:00

This week Albidon (ALD), the mining group working on the Munali nickel project in Zambia, reached an in-principle agreement for up to US$26 million in funding from Pacific Road Resources Funds (PRRF), a private equity investment fund specialising in investing in mining projects worldwide.

Blackthorn Resources (BRL) noted that it had been granted renewal of the New Order Prospecting Rights over the Mokopane Project in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.

Coal of Africa (COAL) secured a deal with Transnet Freight Rail that gives it rail allocation to transport 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of coal to the Matola dry bulk terminal.

Three Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer

2009-01-30T01:23:00.002-05:00

One of the hundreds of business ventures launched each year, many never get off the ground.

Why such dismal odds? Entrepreneurs - with their bias for action - often ignore ingredients essential to business success. These include a clear strategy, the right workforce talent, and organizational controls that spur performance without stifling employees' initiative.

Moreover, no two ventures take the same path. Thus entrepreneurs can't look to formulas to navigate the myriad choices arising as their enterprise evolves. A decision that's right for one venture may prove disastrous for another.

Here are three questions on how to chart a successful course for your venture:

WHERE DO I WANT TO GO?
To articulate your goals for the enterprises, clarify:

- What you want personally from your business: An outlet for artistic talent? A flexible lifestyle? The immorality of building an institution that embodies your values? Quick profits?

- The kind of enterprise required: For example, if you want to sell your business eventually you'll need to build a sustainable enterprise - one that can renew itself through changing generations of technology, employees, and customers. And you'll need a company big enough to support an infrastructure that won't require your daily intervention.

- Your risk tolerance: For example, building a sustainable business entails risky long-term bets - including trusting inexperienced employees, personally guaranteeing debt, and tolerating delayed payoffs. Are your goals worth the attendant risks?

HOW WILL I GET THERE?
Successful strategies:

- Provide clear direction: Articulate the enterprise's policies, geographic reach, capabilities and decision-making framework - in concise terms that employees, investors, and customers can understand.

- Generate sufficient profits and growth: Ensure that your strategy will produce desired business results. For example, Mothers Work - which sells maternity clothing to professional women - took off only when its founder revised her strategy from mail order (which generated low profits owing to stiff competition) to retail stores.

- Serve the enterprise long-term: Anticipate future market saturation, intensifies competition, and major technological change, then ensure that your strategy accommodates those future scenarios.

- Establish the right growth rate: Plan for a growth rate that will attract customers and capital without causing excessive stress for you and your employees.

CAN I DO IT?
A great strategy is worthless unless you can execute it. To do so, you'll need the right:

- Resources: Augment your workforce with employees possessing the skills, knowledge, and values needed to implement your strategy. A strong workforce attracts customers and investment capital.

- Infrastructure: Establish the organizational systems needed to execute your strategy. For example, suppose you want to build a geographically dispersed business, grow rapidly, and eventually go public. In this case, you'll need to invest heavily in mechanism for delegating tasks, specializing job roles, forecasting and monitoring availability of funds, and maintaining financial records.

- Role flexibility: To grow your business, your role must shift from doing the "real work" to teaching others to do it, prescribing desired results, and managing the work environment.

African private equity funds will struggle in fundraising through 2009

2009-01-27T09:35:00.003-05:00

African private equity funds will struggle in fundraising through 2009 as investors have withdrawn from the market, says Rod Evison, a managing director at UK government-backed, emerging markets-focused firm CDC.

Evison predicts that African funds launched in the second half of 2008 will struggle to reach their targets due to the current withdrawal of international investors from the market.

Gross domestic product growth in South Africa in 2009 is likely to be between 2-3 per cent, well below the 5 per cent level that was sighted in 2007.

In Nigeria in 2009, growth is expected to remain around 6 per cent.

Playing an integral role in the revival of Africa.

2009-01-26T09:50:00.004-05:00

LONRHO is a pan-African company with a diverse portfolio of investments focusing on Africa. Its investments range from primary infrastructure to transportation, support services, hotels and natural resources.

The Company is focused on servicing Western investment and African business by investing in emerging sectors across Africa, creating hubs of business through key investments.

Lonrho is re-establishing a significant presence on the African Continent through strategic investments across sectors in fast-growing African economies.

More information on this company.

Malawi's inflation climbed to 9.9 percent

2009-01-22T09:21:00.003-05:00

Malawi's inflation climbed to 9.9 percent year-on-year in December from 9.6 percent in November, largely due to higher non-food prices.

Malawi's second consecutive surplus harvest of the maize staple helped to reduce inflation from 15 percent in June 2006 to single digits in early 2007.

According to the Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe, he said the southern African nation would not able to meet some of its economic targets because of the global financial crisis, which may hurt exports.

Malawi relies on agriculture, primarily tobacco, for its foreign earnings and is dependent on imported oil and gas.

South Africa Telkom bought 25 percent of Nigeria Multi-Links for $130 million

2009-01-22T09:01:00.004-05:00

South Africa's biggest fixed-line phone operator Telkom had bought the 25 percent of Nigerian firm Multi-Links it does not own for $130 million, the company said on Thusrday.

Telkom said it bought the private telecommunications operator from Kenston Investment Ltd. The deal was effective from January 21.

Telkom acquired 75 percent of Multi-Links in May 2007.

South Africa's Neotel may list on the JSE

2009-01-22T08:46:00.003-05:00

Neotel [NEO.UL], South Africa's second-biggest fixed-line phone operator, may be listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange when the economic climate improves

Neotel, controlled by India's Tata group, is to spend up to 2 billion rand ($199.8 million) on a 5,000 km fibre optic cable network in partnership with mobile operator MTN (MTNJ.J).

Vodacom, South Africa's biggest mobile phone operator, may join MTN and Neotel to construct the network.

Neotel launched in 2006 after long delays and employs more than 900 people. It began offering telephone and Internet services to corporate clients in March 2007.

MTN and Neotel building fiber optic network for 2010 World Cup

2009-01-22T08:36:00.004-05:00

South African cell phone operator MTN and fixed-line operator Neotel aim to build $197 million long distance fiber optic network in time for 2010 World Cup.

Reuters Poll: Kenya Economy

2009-01-22T08:25:00.004-05:00

Analysts expect Kenya's economy to grow by 4.1% in 2009, partly due to falling prices for commodity imports. The risks in 2009 are that prolonged dry weather and a global slowdown may hurt key agricultural export sectors and tourism.

Last year’s spike in the price of crude and commodities such as fertiliser drove up Kenya’s import bill — a factor blamed for the shilling’s weakness in the second half of 2008.

Like neighbours Tanzania and Uganda, the financial crisis forced Kenya to shelve plans to issue a debut $500 million Eurobond. It is now planning to raise 18 billion shillings locally through infrastructure bonds.

Ghana has world's hottest stock exchange

2009-01-07T18:42:00.004-05:00

About time for the continent of Africa to show the world we could compete globally. This is great to see Ghana and Tunisia Stock Market Leads World Indexes.

A year after it became widely known that Ghana had oil reserves of at least a billion barrels, the race for acreage has begun in earnest.

Read More

Top 3 Places To Invest In Africa & Middle East For 2009

2009-01-06T13:44:00.005-05:00

Press Release Summary: The overseas property portal Homesgofast.com which promotes real estate in over 70 countries has predicted its top three places to invest within Africa and Middle East for 2009. The portal predicts that Dubai, Egypt and Tunisia will see the most activity from international property investors.

Press Release Body: The overseas property portal Homesgofast.com which promotes real estate in over 70 countries has predicted its top three places to invest within Africa and Middle East for 2009. The portal predicts that Dubai, Egypt and Tunisia will see the most activity from international property investors.

The results come after research by Marr International Ltd the company behind HomesGofast.com. They analysed internet traffic and enquiry trends from its network of property websites.

Old favourites such as Dubai remain top of the agenda for international investors however there was one region that took the portal by surprise this was Tunisia.

Read More

2009-01-02T08:49:00.003-05:00

IBM's Next 5 in 5

The third annual "IBM Next Five in Five" is a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years. The Next Five in Five is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBMs Labs around the world that can make these innovations possible. Find out more at http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/26121.wss

Africa: A New Emerging Markets Frontier?

2009-01-01T01:41:00.004-05:00

The improvement in economic policy in Africa has certainly contributing to the dynamism of domestic demand and in particular of investment, which is increasingly becoming a driver for growth in the continent.

Africa: A New Emerging Markets Frontier?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: services telecommunications)

Cleantech is still a fast growing investment theme

2008-12-31T12:24:00.002-05:00

Marika Svärdström, founder and principal of Carbon Capital Ventures

Investment in clean technologies has more than tripled in value since 2004, when interest in the sector took off – from $1.8 billion to an expected $6 billion-plus in 2008. And cleantech investment is still growing despite the global economic crisis.

Figures from National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in the US show that while venture cap investment fell from $7.7 billion to $7.1 billion, a decline of 7%, between quarter two and three last year, investment in cleantech actually increased by 14% (from $800 million to $1 billion).

The world still needs energy and investing in fossil fuel-based energy production carries risks of its own as illustrated by the recent see-saw prices of fossil fuels. The fundamental market drivers for cleantech, and clean energy in particular, have not changed and will continue to push policy, innovation and investment.

• Rising energy prices. While oil prices have come down substantially from their historic highs last summer they remain above their historic average. Long-term oil prices are expected to continue to climb, and as the costs of fossil fuel energy are rising the cost of clean energy is falling.

• Concerns over climate change and energy security. Climate change concerns have gone from debate to action. The European Union was first to introduce a mandatory emissions trading scheme in 2005. Regardless of the price of a barrel of oil, Western industrialised countries are dependent on outside energy supplies, with US importing 70% of its oil needs and Europe 55% of its oil and gas needs.

• Rapid growth of emerging economies. The explosive demand for resources in emerging markets, in particularly China and India, puts stress on natural resources and the ecosystem.

• Favourable policies and regulation. Several US and EU states have given mandates to their utilities to generate a certain percentage of electricity from renewable energy.

• Technology breakthroughs and access to capital. Wind power technology has reached market maturity and become a market for large players such as GE, Siemens, and Mitsubishi. Solar power energy is experiencing tremendous growth, with a range of competing technologies and business models.

There are many indications that cleantech and clean energy in particular will remain high on the agenda of governments and provide opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs despite the economic downturn.

First on the policy side, the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act passed in the US included several tax breaks and incentives for renewable energy and clean technologies. President-elect Barack Obama has pledge to spend $150 billion over 10 years to promote wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy resources. With the US consuming nearly 25% of the world’s energy, once the federal government starts putting effective price signals in place, the pace of cleantech innovation is likely to accelerate.

Another encouraging sign came in the form of GE’s announcement in October of the results and expectations from its environmental business. Despite the economic downturn GE expects 2008 revenue from energy efficiency products to increase by 21% to $17 billion since last year and its annual investment in cleaner R&D to surpass $1.4 billion, an increase of $300 million over last year.

Furthermore, at a sector level there have been signs of inflated valuations, with solar being the most notable example. That is now disappearing, corrected by the economic crisis.

When analysing cleantech opportunities it is important to consider that cleantech is a new theme, with markets that are not yet mature. A long-term perspective is critical.

The challenges and how to overcome them

Many cleantech companies are small and lack the finances and competences to grow their business. Surviving the credit crunch will be a challenge for many. Companies selling technology that will earn a quick return in fields such as energy efficiency will be most resilient. Capital-intensive businesses such as energy production are going to have a tougher time in the economic downturn.

In the absence of external funding, improving and managing cash flow is going to be critical and may require a change of business strategy and model. For example, a client of Carbon Capital Ventures in the biogas sector was financed by one of the troubled banks until early October when the bank informed it that there would be no loan. The search for a new loan provider or investor proved very challenging during the months that followed. While continuing the fund raising, the company re-defined its business model and strategy, from a capital-intensive build-operate-and-transfer model to a model of selling technology licenses and charging service fees.

The CEO says that it has been the toughest couple of months in his career. Despite leading a company that is well recognised in its field, with patented technology, operations in Europe and Asia and an order book of over €130 million, raising the necessary funds to grow the business proved to be very difficult. In addition to re-defining the business model, the company turned to customers to ask for upfront payments and to suppliers to negotiate later payment dates.

With a stronger focus on operations and short term cash flow the company is confident that it is able to grow, and to large extent organically, in the coming year. The CEO also points out that these changes may not necessarily be bad but may indeed prove to be positive for the company and its investors in the long run.

What to watch for

Cleantech is not one industry – it comprises a range of sub-sectors among which include solar and wind power generation, bio fuels, energy efficiency, materials, water and transport. Cleantech addresses markets that differ significantly in size, maturity, value chains, investment requirements and different business models. When investing in cleantech, regulatory uncertainty and technology risks are among the main pitfalls.

As an investor it is critical to identify niche sectors, and develop expertise and a strong network of contacts in each cleantech sub-sector. A mixed expertise of technology, politics and economics are required, and an ability to stay ahead of current trends.

As technologies and markets mature different market developments should be expected. Take for example the solar industry, where large established silicon solar companies are competing with each other on driving down costs and scaling up manufacturing. At the same time new solar technologies and business models are emerging, threatening the incumbents to potentially change the competitive landscape entirely.

Notes for investors

• Competing technologies in markets that are not yet mature. For example, FirstSolar, a solar thin-film technology company that has experienced exponential growth between 2006 and 2008 of $135 million to $1.2 billion and is threatening incumbent crystalline silicon solar companies.

• New innovative business models that will accelerate market growth. Historically, business model innovations that make the consumption of a new technology easier, cheaper, more accessible or more convenient have been the best predictor of success in emerging industries. For example SunEdison, a solar financing company, is eliminating the high upfront costs for residential installations by converting each solar power installation into a fixed income security, making it affordable to put up solar panels for consumers.

• Established players focusing on integrating along the value chain in fragmented industry sectors. Acquisition activities. For example SunPower has gone from being a manufacturer of cells to providing installation and financing, strengthening its competitiveness, improving cost control and direct customer relations.

_____________________________________

Carbon Capital Ventures (www.carboncapitalventures.com) provides market insights and advisory services to investors and entrepreneurs operating and interested in cleantech. We provide clients with insightful and robust analysis that enable them to make informed investment decisions. We work closely with entrepreneurs of portfolio companies to help them accelerate the growth of their business.

Carbon Capital Ventures has developed a unique network of technical and commercial experts that provides us access to technology experts in cleantech niches, leading research institutes and incubators, and a leading international business school. We also actively network with VC and PE firms in Europe and US investing in clean technology.

Through this we offer our clients a unique combination of competences in clean technology, policy and market regulation, and business strategy effectively applied to identify outstanding opportunities, successful business models and effective strategies.

The Angel Investor : Introduction

2008-12-31T11:20:00.006-05:00

ANGEL INVESTORS NUMBER in the hundreds of thousands and are proliferating at a rapid rate. these affluent individuals provide entrepreneurs and new ventures with needed venture capital, especially when more traditional sources of capital, such as investment banks and larger money management venture capital firms, are not willing to get involved.

Angel investors have been major engines of the booming New Economy. Angel investors generate new ideas, contribute innovative technologies to the marketplace, and inject much-needed vitality into complacent industries. new Ventures occasionally grow into major corporations, such as Microsoft, Dell, America Online, Netscape, and others.

We cannot underestimate how astute many of these investors are. They are self-made millionaires. Over and above their homes and cars, they typically have net worth of $1 million to $10 million, having been extremely successful investors in the public as well as the private market. In most cases, they bank on their own judgment to once again select venture like the one that made them wealthy.

To minimize the confusion about which capital sources are angel investors, I’m going to define some other sources of funds for private companies:

Institutional investor: A corporation, financial institution, or other organization (e.g., venture capital firm) that uses money raised from another party to provide capital to a private business owned and operated by someone else.
Friends and family investor: An individual who uses his own money to provide capital to a private business owned and operated by a family member, work colleague, friend or neighbor.
Informal investor: An individual (not an institution) who uses his own money to provide capital to a private business owned and operated by someone else.

Venture capital itself has been defined as the search for significantly above average long-term investment returns accomplished primarily through equity ownership of or involvement in risky start-up or emerging companies, companies typically managed by experienced executives. Such companies tend to focus on rapidly growing markets and to provide innovative products, technology or services.

Venture investment can range from riskier seed, R&D, and start-up funding at the earlier stages through bridge, acquisition, merger, and turnaround investments at later stages in the development of the venture. Obviously, ventures at the riskier end of the spectrum offer potentially higher returns if they meet their projections.

Typically, seed defines a company in the idea stage, when its process are being organized. R&D is typical of the financing of product development for early-stage but more developed companies, start-up designates a venture completing its product development and initial marketing. At the less-risky end, bridge designates a venture requiring short-term capital to reach stability. Acquisition and merger refer to a company's need for capital to finance an acquisition. Turnaround denotes a venture that needs capital to change from an unprofitable to a more profitable circumstance.

2008-12-30T19:29:00.004-05:00

VCs focus on capital efficiency in new deals
Livemint - Delhi,Delhi,India
This year saw a reining in of valuations, on the rise since 2006, when venture and private equity (PE) investing returned to India in a big way, ...

Prospects, hurdles for 2009 in Nigeria Technology sector

2008-12-30T18:16:00.002-05:00

Ernest Ndukwe

According to BusinessDay, by October 2008, Nigeria's telecom sector had chalked up 58.9 million subscribers,up from under 500,000 in 2001. As at October this year, the country had hit a teledensity mark of 42.13 percent.Industry authorities describe the country as one of the fastest growing in the world as regards to telecoms.

The telecom sector has created tens of thousands of jobs directly and indirectly and many locals have picked up technology skills. Electronic banking and electronic payment systems are riding on the back of the new telecom infrastructure and delivering service through the mobile phone portal.

A lot of valuable man hours are saved daily as people can now get valuable business and other information by making a phone call, as against in the past when on account of poor communication people had to travel long distances just to get the same information.

Ernest Ndukwe, the executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently warned telecommunications operators across the country to optimise their networks in order to cope with the volume of traffic expected during the Christmas and New Year festivity periods.

Ndukwe stressed that broadband was the next frontier that needed to be conquered.
"Some of the mobile operators have begun offering services on the 3G platform and subscribers are now able to transmit data across huge wireless bandwidths. Some of the companies have rolled out WiMAX services which are providing broadband services across major cities like Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Ndukwe said it was because of the importance placed on extending broadband services to all parts of the country that the commission initiated the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI) which from implementation would cover all the 36 state capitals across Nigeria and many of the urban and semi urban centres.

"The rationale behind the SABI project is to provide wireless broadband services in Nigerian cities so as to stimulate demand for Internet services and increase usage, and most importantly, this project is to drive broadband to home at affordable levels", he said.

He said that the Wire Nigeria, (WIN) project being facilitated by the commission to ensure provision of optic fibre cable backbone infrastructure across the country, would also compliment the SABI.

"The idea behind the WIN project is to provide a national backbone infrastructure which will allow multiple operators to hook on at any point to deliver quality broadband transmission services across the country," he said.

For their part, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts say that in order to benefit fully from the Internet, Nigeria needs to continuously improve its connectivity infrastructure in order to achieve affordable broadband connections. This is even as emerging market trends show that the most significant factor enabling broadband growth is the existence of alternative infrastructures, in particular cables.

Ndukwe kalu, President, Nigerian Internet Regulation Association (NIRA) observed that Nigeria had done fairly well in the area of ICT but advised that there was the need to take sufficient advantage of the massive wealth generation opportunities which local IT development offers.

He said: "In terms of telecoms, there are two verticals we need to look at here, voice and data. For voice, we have done exceptionally well recording 57 million active lines out of a population of 140 million people. That ratio far exceeds the United Nations Organisations (UNO) ratio for telecommunications penetration."

"For data, statistics show Nigeria has one of the lowest broadband usage levels in Africa with less than 10, 000 subscribers. We are a stage worse than what it was in telecoms in 2001", he added.

Internet domain name, after a long and difficult journey, the Nigerian Internet Registration Association NIRA is set to deliver on a key component of its mandate. Come January 1, 2009 NIRA would commence automated and commercial service. Nigerians all over the world and others interested in the .ng open domain would be able to register .ng domains with instant results. Registrations would be possible through any of the NIRA accredited 29 registrars.

The registrars with online payment systems offer instant domain registrations with domains visible one hour later. Apart from the patriotic appeal every Nigerian has every reason to go for a .ng domain. .ng domains would be one of the cheapest cctlds or gtlds in pricing. Also as a virgin domain many brand names are all available for proper name registration. All these make the .Ng domain a key domain of choice.

Pioneer Accredited Registrars appointed for .ng Registry, after a pains taking evaluation process by the Registrar Accreditation committee, the Executive Board has approved the appointment of the first and only set of 29 Pioneer Registrars for the .ng Registry.

The Registrar Accreditation committee headed by the NIRA VP Mary Uduma had received 35 completed applications for the Pioneer Accreditation process. While all 35 were given provisional accreditation after due assessment only 29 could meet all the set criteria for final accreditation. Of these three had primary office locations outside Nigeria, pricelsy, Senegal, UK and the US.

Electricity, the poor electricity supply in Nigeria is proving a major impediment to the operation and growth of Information Technology and other businesses in the country. This makes it difficult to survive at home or to compete in the global arena. The necessary generation of alternative power adds about 30 percent to the cost of doing business in Nigeria. The three tier of government, federal, state and local have agreed to release $5 billion for the completion of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP). When this is done, we can have some of the power projects completed in 2009. This should improve generation by about 20 percent. Peak power generation for 2008 was about 3,500 megawatts. Experts estimate that power generation could increase by about 1,000 megawatts in 2009. Government says generation should hit 6,000 megawatts in 2009 by industry experts say it would not likely exceed 4,500.

2008-12-30T18:04:00.004-05:00

Business Standard

'PEs that survive the next 18 months will emerge winners'
Business Standard - Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
The sharp fall in markets has also delayed exit opportunities
for PE investors. These are the views of the President & CEO
of IDFC Private Equity Group, ...
See all stories on this topic

2008-12-27T17:11:00.007-05:00

Representing the private equity and venture capital industry in ...

African Venture Capital Association is a not-for-profit entity founded to promote, develop and stimulate private equity and venture capital in Africa.

http://www.avcanet.com

Venture Capital & Angel Investors

2008-12-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

Venture Capital & Angel Investors: "Wall Street's Affect on Early-Stage Venture Capital and Angel Investing
Watch this short video of 7 VCs and Angel Investors discussing how the turmoil on Wall Street will be affecting their strategy on making early-stage investments.
Watch the video clip here.
Details on this Venture & Angel Event in NYC Wall Streets Affect on VC"

Nigerian investors should begin to seek alternative ways of investing, Investors Told

2008-12-26T21:12:00.004-05:00

Mr. Olumide Oyetan, a director with the Stanbic IBTC Asset Management suggested that Nigerian investors should begin to seek alternative ways of investing their monies for better returns as the bearish trend in the market continues unabated. According to him, "the benefit of alternative investments is to enhance total return and diversification of investments."

The alternative areas of investments he said are; Private Equity/Venture Capital, Credit/Structured Notes, Emotional Assets (Coins, Jewellery, Fine Art & Wine, etc) and Timber/Farmlands and Oil & Gas. Other options with high returns are "derivatives or physicals such as managed futures, commodities, currencies, hedge fund strategies, trading in volatility, carbon emissions, and weather derivatives among others."

He however cautioned that, attention should be paid to correlation of the asset classes and the fund manager's skill in search of the elusive alpha. According to him, "accessing alternative investments through Standard Bank Group/Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited can assure of access to attractive pipeline of Private Equity deals through Stanbic IBTC Bank."

Venture Capital and Private Equity in Africa - Connecting investors and entrepreneurs

2008-10-25T13:48:00.000-04:00

Venture Capital and Private Equity in Africa - Connecting investors and entrepreneurs

PRIVATE-EQUITY FUNDING ON RECORD PACE

2008-10-10T15:55:00.005-04:00

While public financial markets are in crisis, U.S. private equity firms continue to stockpile capital and have picked up the pace of their fundraising.

U.S. private equity firms raised $222.6 billion in 264 funds during the first three quarters of 2008, 11 percent ahead of the $200.4 billion raised by 298 funds in the same time last year.

That is in contrast to the halfway point of this year, when fundraising lagged slightly behind last year's pace. There's also been a slowdown in buyout fundraising. The full-year fundraising record of $313 billion was set in 2007.

Limited partners have been saying that they intend to invest in private equity at a steady pace through the current downturn. Many of these investors have learned their lesson after the venture bubble burst in 2000.

Distressed firms, which are calculated in the buyout/corporate finance category, are seeing strong interest from investors, with 18 funds raising $37.9 billion so far this year, up 28 percent from $29.5 billion raised by 16 funds at this point last year, according to the report. Distressed firms raised a record $48.2 billion in 2007.

CONGRESS PASSES BAILOUT BILL

2008-10-03T13:54:00.004-04:00

Treasury’s $700 billion rescue plan for financial markets passes 263-171, winning approval from the same House which rejected it four days ago.

Going forward now, Treasury will have immediate authority to invest $250 billion and little trouble getting a second installment of $100 billion. But Paulson will be subjected to much greater oversight than he first proposed, and a future Congress could potentially deny any funding beyond the first $350 billion authorized in the legislation.

Taxpayers are promised a greater chance to gain some equity interest in the companies benefiting from the government aid. And new restrictions are imposed on executive pay and severance packages for those firms that sell more than $300 million in securities to the government.

Treasury official admit that it will take several weeks to begin to put the program into effect. And together with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Paulson is exploring how best to use new auction mechanisms to not only guide the government’s investments but also shed new light on the real value of assets suppressed to “fire sale" prices after the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble.

Treasury will also have to sell bonds to raise the money, meaning Paulson’s early investments may be limited to just $50 billion a month. And for this reason, the real future of the initiative could rest on whomever succeeds President Bush in January.

GroFin Private Equity to inject $125m in Africa

2008-09-30T05:12:00.003-04:00

A PRIVATE equity fund plans to put money in risk capital investments and other business support to five African countries.

The GroFin Africa fund has so far raised $125m at its fund’s first closing.

This represents the largest fundraising success by GroFin in a single fund to date, a fact that highlights appetite for investors for Africa. The fund would invest between $100,000 and $1m in seven countries including Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa. It expects to raise $160m by November.

The economic, political and social reforms coupled with several years of high growth that have taken place across many African economies, made it a “very attractive growth finance environment.

GroFin specialises in integrating the much-needed risk finance with business development support.

This helps fill a void between micro-finance and private equity as very few financiers target the emerging growth finance asset class. The fund will target growth finance opportunities in all sectors like consumer goods services, logistics /transport, private education, manufacturing and agribusiness.

The fund was created by GroFin, a leading growth finance fund management company specialising in risk capital and business support for small-and-medium businesses in emerging markets.

$700 Billion Bailout Bill has failed in the House

2008-09-29T14:34:00.004-04:00

Treasury’s $700 billion Wall Street bail out plan collapsed in the House, sending a upset through financial markets.

Republican defections proved critical to the massive government intervention, which was rejected 228-205. In spite of bipartisan appeals from the leadership, anti-Wall Street sentiment and the huge scale of the proposed government intervention proved too much for Treasury to prevail.

Democrats more than delivered a majority of their caucus, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held the vote open to bring her numbers up to 140 votes for the package. But Republicans never topped 70, and the final GOP split was 133 against the bill and only 65 for the measure.

After the vote, Republicans claimed that the Democratic leadership had been warned that fewer than 60 Republicans would vote for the bill. Democrats denied the claim, saying they never would have brought the bill to the floor if they had been told there was so little Republican support.

Citigroup Agrees to Buy Wachovia's Banking Operations

2008-09-29T12:21:00.005-04:00

Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, will acquire banking operations of Wachovia Corp. for about $2.16 billion after shares of the North Carolina lender collapsed under the weight of overdue mortgages.

The all-stock deal equals about $1 a share for the Charlotte-based bank, ranked sixth by assets in the U.S. All depositors will be protected, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which helped broker the takeover by Citigroup. The New York-based bank plans to cut its own dividend in half and raise $10 billion in capital as it takes on Wachovia's senior and subordinated debt.

The purchase gives Citigroup about 3,300 branches and offices in 21 states. Wachovia will continue to own the A.G. Edwards Inc. brokerage and the Evergreen mutual-fund family.

Warren Buffet is backing Goldman Sachs in in $7.5 Billion Fundraising

2008-09-24T06:38:00.003-04:00

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. won the backing of Warren Buffett, the world's preeminent stock-picker, as the Wall Street firm seeks to raise cash from investors whose faith in the investment-banking business model has been shaken.

The bank soared 11 percent to $138.17 in German trading today. For Goldman, the endorsement came at a price. Berkshire Hathaway Inc., led by the 78-year-old billionaire, is buying $5 billion of perpetual preferred stock with a 10 percent dividend. Berkshire also gets warrants to buy $5 billion of common stock at $115 a share at any time in the next five years. The common stock closed yesterday at $125.05, providing Buffett with an instant paper profit of $437 million.

In addition to raising money from Buffett, Goldman said it plans to sell at least $2.5 billion of common stock to the public. It will be the firm's first common stock offering since 2000. No details of the planned offering were disclosed in a statement released by the New York-based company yesterday.

Venture Capital & Angel Investors

2008-09-23T08:01:00.000-04:00

Venture Capital & Angel Investors

NBAI Private Equity Forum video

2008-09-23T07:45:00.001-04:00

First Reserve Corp. has completed its C$3.7 billion buyout of CHC Helicopter

2008-09-18T17:28:00.004-04:00

First Reserve Corp. has completed its C$3.7 billion buyout of CHC Helicopter Corp. (NYSE: FLI), a provider of helicopter services to the global offshore oil and gas industry. Morgan Stanley led the debt syndicate.

The Arrangement was approved by CHC’s shareholders at a special meeting held on April 29, 2008, and was approved by the British Columbia Supreme Court on May 1, 2008. Under the Arrangement, 6922767 Canada Inc. acquired all of CHC’s outstanding Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and Class B Multiple Voting Shares for cash consideration of CDN$32.68 per share.

It is expected that the CHC Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and Class B Multiple Voting Shares will be delisted from the TSX and the NYSE (in respect of the Class A shares) later this week.

Also, on September 15, 2008, CHC’s cash tender offer (the “Offer”) for all outstanding CHC’s 7 3/8% senior subordinated notes due 2014 (the “Notes”) and the related consent solicitation expired. CHC indicated that approximately US$392 million principal amount of the Notes was validly tendered to the Offer. All Notes validly tendered were purchased by CHC and submitted to the trustee for cancellation. As a result of CHC’s purchase of the tendered Notes, the amendments to the Notes indenture contemplated by the consent solicitation have become operative.

CHC intends to apply to the relevant securities regulatory authorities to cease to be a reporting issuer in each of the jurisdictions in Canada where is it currently reporting.

2008 Black Enterprise Top Private Equity

2008-08-20T13:37:00.006-04:00

MacFarlane Partners
San Francisco, CA
Capital Under Management* 20,100.000
Fairview Capital Partners Inc.
West Hartford, CT
Capital Under Management* 2,600.000
Vista Equity Partners
San Francisco, CA
Capital Under Management* 2,000.000
Number of Funds: 2
MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors L.L.C.
Detroit, MI
Capital Under Management* 953.000
Number of Funds: 1
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 1
UrbanAmerica L.P.
New York, NY
Capital Under Management* 520.000
Number of Funds: 2
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 2
Pharos Capital Group L.L.C.
Dallas, TX
Capital Under Management* 500.000
Number of Funds: 3
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 3
ICV Capital Partners L.L.C.
New York, NY
Capital Under Management* 443.000
Number of Funds: 2
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 2
SYNCOM Venture Partners
Silver Spring, MD
Capital Under Management* 410.000
Number of Funds: 2
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 2
Smith Whiley & Co.
Hartford, CT
Capital Under Management* 270.000
Number of Funds: 3
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 3
Ascend Venture Group L.L.C.
New York, NY
Capital Under Management* 150.000
Number of Funds: 2
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 2
Opportunity Capital Partners
Fremont, CA
Capital Under Management* 135.000
Number of Funds: 4
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 4
Black Enterprise Greenwich Street Corporate Growth Management L.L.C.
New York, NY
Capital Under Management* 91.000
Number of Funds: 1
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 1
21st Century Group L.L.C.
Dallas, TX
Capital Under Management* 80.000
Number of Funds: 1
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 1
Meridian Management Group Inc.
Baltimore, MD
Capital Under Management* 50.000
Number of Funds: 3
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 3
United Enterprise Fund L.P.
New York, NY
Capital Under Management* 41.000
Number of Funds: 1
Total Number of Portfolio Companies: 1

* In Millions of Dollars to the nearest thousand. As of Dec. 31, 2007 Prepared by B.E. Research.