Is Africa the new frontier for emerging market investors?
It was somewhat remarkable that several new Africa funds were actually launched during this difficult time. While the level of trading volumes has certainly declined since 2008, there are significantly more Africa funds today than there were last year. Much of this activity is being driven by the fact that Africa remains relatively undeveloped and ripe for growth, compared to most other parts of the world like Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Mideast where industries are generally more mature. Whether one is talking about banking, telephone services, or sales of beer and cement, average per capita consumption figures are generally low in Africa. Couple this fact with the expectation of much greater development of natural resources and infrastructure over the next several years, and one sees that opportunities for growth are substantial. So yes, it certainly seems that Africa has become the new frontier for emerging markets investors and Kestrel Capital continues to see and s
