Africa's Emerging CEOS
to be successful, we need to deeply rethink our educational systems in order to create a workforce with the skills that are needed to develop our countries and with the entrepreneurial mindset that will allow us to create a strong private sector which is an undeniable pillar of lasting job creation.
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Another reason why the growth of these economies doesn’t currently produce the results expected in terms of social inclusion, reduction in the poverty rate and job creation is that a big share of the wealth created is not reinvested in the local economies. We need to establish a more fluid capital market where the wealth created is used to support a stronger private sector and used to fund a more inclusive growth. You founded Sirius Capital an investment Bank committed to raising funds for high-impact projects in Africa. Can you share some of your successful ventures since inception? Sirius Capital is a very dynamic investment bank working closely not only with the private sector but also with the public sector. For the public sector, we have successfully arranged and raised fund by issuing bonds totaling more than 1 billion dollars for several West African countries like Mali and Côte d’Ivoire. We have also been active and raised funds internationally for several ventures in education and infrastructure. We have several references with the private sector in real estate, industry and financial services. We are however particularly proud of our work alongside the private and public sectors in rethinking the industrialization model for key agricultural resources like cashew nuts for example. Sub Saharan Africa is the #1 cashew producer in the world and we are currently transforming less than 10% of our production. Although the project is still in its early phases, the “inclusive transformation” model we helped conceive and
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show exponential results, the growth in internet accesses and mobile penetration are unparalleled in the world Real Estate: the need for adequate housing a basic need for a large majority of Africa’s fast-growing population Consumer goods: we need to cater to the needs to Sub Saharan’s Africa’s soon to be 2 billion population with an emerging middle class Financial services: Financial inclusion is one of the biggest challenges we are currently facing with less than 10% of the population in the formal banking system.
Several other sectors offer strong fundamentals and should be considered by investors such as:
engineer is proving very efficient in creating more value and thousands of jobs for the local farmers. This project illustrates our DNA at Sirius Capital, we take pride in our ability to leverage our deep understanding of the local economies in order to find pragmatic solutions and structure transactions that bridge the gap between high impact ventures and the adequate level capital. As a leading investment banker in Africa, what are your top picks of sectors of interest for would be investors in the continent? The top 5 sectors I would highlight as nursing the best growth opportunities are •
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52 | African Leadership | March - April 2020
Agroindustry: as discussed earlier this sector is one the strongest lever Africa can base its growth upon, more than 30 billion dollars currently used to fund food imports in sub Saharan Africa when all the fundamentals for self-sufficiency are present. ICT: innovation and technology are birthing a wealth of new disruptive business models that can
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Infrastructure Healthcare Energy Mining Telco
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We are however particularly proud of our work alongside the private and public sectors in rethinking the industrialization model for key agricultural resources like cashew nuts for example.