prepaidafrica:

These are exciting times to be in Africa. We are witnessing a unique moment in Africa’s political and economic development, standing on the cusp of what many of us believe is the African Century. It is a century structured around hope and crucially, about conviction, the conviction that we can, at last, leverage the macroeconomic fundamentals and competitive advantages with which we have been endowed as we move toward 2040 — the year by which Africa will become home to the world’s largest and fastest-growing working-age population.

This transformation is being led by a new generation of can-do leaders in business, government and civil society who are reshaping Africa into an economic powerhouse.

Tony Elumelu has spoken out about the value of what he calls Africapitalism, underlining the importance of Africans leading the development of the continent. At Citadel Capital we echo this sentiment. We believe this is Africa’s primetime.

Six of the ten fastest-growing economies globally in the 10 years to 2010 were in Africa, and seven of the ten fastest-growing economies in the five years to 2016 will also be on our continent. Dynamic and heterogeneous, Africa is long on opportunity, but short on capital and management expertise — two things that private equity is uniquely positioned to bring to the table. Governments face rising public expectations and constrained balance sheets, a development that has seen them open previously hands-off industries to the private sector. Couple that with enduring investment fundamentals structured around deregulation / government pullback, infrastructure with PE returns, natural advantages and resources, and a fast-growing consumer population and you have a recipe for generating outstanding returns while simultaneously helping governments meet the aspirations of their citizens.

The re-launch of the Africa Venture Capital Association this week in Accra demonstrates the increasing sophistication and scale of the PE industry on the continent and the need for a respected industry body to provide leadership and structure to a sector playing a transformational role in catalyzing growth in Africa.

(via africaisdonesuffering)