Three years after disputed elections led to bloodshed, Côte d'Ivoire has emerged as one of the most exciting opportunities for private equity investors in Africa, with a dynamic workforce keen to put a decade of turmoil behind it, a senior investor said on Friday.
Jean-Michel Severino, chairman of Paris-based Investisseurs & Partenaires, said its two funds totaling €65m aimed to provide investors with returns of up to 10% a year while fostering social development in Africa.
With interest in private equity in Africa booming, Severino said his firm was launching two new funds: a €50m venture with Schneider Electric for power projects and a €100m vehicle for small infrastructure development.
"Our aim is to promote entrepreneurs. These are the people who can provide a solution to Africa’s problem of unemployment and growth," said Mr Severino, a former World Bank executive who ran the French Development Agency (AFD) for a decade.
I&P’s two existing funds back 50 entrepreneurs across a range of sectors from healthcare to finance and agriculture, with just one golden rule — they avoid investing in economies dependent on oil or mining, like Nigeria.
"In these countries, which are victim to ‘Dutch Disease’, entrepreneurial activities are penalised," said Mr Severino.
He cited Ghana — whose economy grew by 7.1% last year on the back of oil, gold and cocoa exports — as another country offering fewer opportunities to entrepreneurs.
Ghana’s booming natural resources sales had pushed up prices, incentivising imports and strangling economic diversification, complicating life for entrepreneurs, he said.
In contrast, his firm is enthusiastic about Côte d'Ivoire and has made three investments in the country before the 2010-2011 civil war sparked by former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to recognise Alassane Ouattara’s poll victory, and has made two more since.
"Côte d'Ivoire has one of the best environments for investors in Africa," he said. "It has a strong entrepreneurial culture, a high level of education and a well-established economic infrastructure."
Mr Severino also praised the liberal reforms undertaken by Mr Ouattara since he took office in 2011, though he noted that political risk remained an important factor.
Earlier this week, Carlos Lopes, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, also told a Reuters Summit that Côte d'Ivoire was one of the continent’s better prospects, along with Sierra Leone.
