MECENE INVESTMENT’S ANNUAL CEO CONFERENCE, “MANAGING GROWTH IN TURBULENT TIMES” Fri Feb 20 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mecene Investment’s annual CEO conference, “Managing Growth in Turbulent Times”
February 20, 2009
(Johannesburg, South Africa) – Mecene Investment, the exclusive advisor to the AfriCap Microfinance Fund, is proudly announcing its upcoming CEO conference, “Managing Growth in Turbulent Times”. Fintech Africa, a technical assistance fund managed by Mecene Investment, is sponsoring the event.
The AfriCap Microfinance Fund is the leading private equity fund dedicated to the microfinance industry in Africa. For the past four years, the AfriCap Fund has organized a yearly event for the CEOs of its portfolio companies to collaborate in workshops, share experiences, network, and reinforce best practices. This event has been designed to provide a learning platform for our investees on selected topics in relation to market conditions and investee needs.
This year’s conference will be held on February 24 and 25, 2009 in Kloofzicht Muldersdrift (South Africa). It will focus on the global economic crisis and its implications for the microfinance industry, and assess the challenges and opportunities faced by managers and partners during these upcoming periods of hard economic times.
A number of international development organizations and global microfinance players, such as the Accion International, the European Investment Bank, Norfund Nordic MicroCap, and the Netherlands Development Finance Corporation (FMO), will be attending the conference as shareholders of AfriCap.
During the 2008 conference, capacity building needs were discussed and platforms for collaboration between portfolio companies, such as information technology, education and product management, were defined. The 2009 conference will address the progress on the implementation of the collaboration projects, and map the way forward.
The upcoming CEO Conference will therefore be instrumental in setting collaboration strategies for the remainder of 2009 and for 2010. As managing partner of Mecene Investment, Wagane Diouf fittingly affirms, “At a time when consolidation of the industry is becoming evident, the opportunity for the participating MFIs to create competitive advantage by sharing knowledge and costs with African pairs is indeed great.”
About Mecene Investment: Mecene Investment is a private equity advisory firm, specialized in socially responsible investments in Africa. The company draws on its successful private equity experience in Africa, especially in the microfinance industry, to promote equity and debt investments in industries that provide high social, environmental, and developmental impact.
We, at Mecene Investment, believe that any effort to curb poverty in Africa must have at its core the promotion of entrepreneurship within the informal sector. Our vision is to mobilize capital for informal sector entrepreneurs as the means to achieve growth and sustainability in an environmentally friendly manner, while also delivering high financial returns to our investors.
Mecene Investment intends to play a leading role in poverty reduction and economic development in Africa by investing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) active in industries with an inherently high social, environmental, and developmental impact. To do so, Mecene Investment carefully selects companies with a competent management team and enhances their value by providing them with capital, relationships, technical assistance, management consulting, and financial advice. Mecene investment attracts and retains creative, high-energy individuals who are passionate about making an impact and achieving success through a positive contribution to the African Continent.
Mecene Investment actively seeks people who challenge conventional wisdom, push the boundaries of what’s possible, and thrive in helping others achieve their highest levels of performance.
People are at the center of the Mecene’s philosophy. We seek to achieve high triple bottom line returns by backing outstanding management teams of high growth companies in selected industries in Africa. We thrive to create value by building strong relationships with local management teams and shareholders, and by actively participating in defining the company’s strategic direction and governance. We also believe in fostering exchanges among companies within our portfolio.
In line with our vision, we believe that the African entrepreneur needs a range of services that are seldom available due to the complexities of transacting with the informal sector. We are certain that when those services are made available in an environmentally friendly manner, businesses thrive, jobs are created, and communities grow stronger.
About AfriCap:
AfriCap is a $50 million African Microfinance Investment Company established in Mauritius. Mecene Investment, a South African advisory company headquartered in Johannesburg, manages the company.
Founded in 2001 by the Development Finance Institution and various microfinance NGOs including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Netherlands Development Finance Corporation (FMO), The European Investment Bank, Accion International, and Calmeadow, the AfriCap Fund provides equity capital and technical assistance to leading African MFIs.
In October 2007, the AfriCap Fund transformed into an investment company and raised its capital from $14 million to $50 million.
Operating in similar form to the venture capital model, AfriCap offers an integrated investment package. The company invests in with equity and quasi-equity instruments while also providing management advice, governance, and technical assistance. The adjoined Technical Services Facility (TSF) and Fintech Africa provide the financial means for building capacity within portfolio companies and creating an environment that enables broader access to finance.
AfriCap follows an investment strategy that over the next five years will target 15 to 20 leading MFIs across Africa that have the potential to become demonstration models of successful microfinance enterprises. These investments will be attractive not only on financial merit, but in their support of a broader objective; that of helping to legitimize the emerging microfinance industry. AfriCap invests exclusively in institutions dedicated to microfinance or small business lending, and in doing so, brings a specialist expertise to the management of each investment and to the development of the portfolio as a whole.
To date, the company has invested in the following institutions: Access Bank – Madagascar, CAP Microfinance- Senegal, Opportunity International Malawi, Equity Bank – Kenya, Quality Finance International- Egypt, Socremo Banco – Mozambique, Susu Microfinance Bank- Nigeria, Union Trust Bank – Sierra Leone, Women’s World Banking – Ghana, Wizitt Bank- South Africa, and Ferlo- Senegal.
www.africacapfund.com
About Fintech Africa: FinTech Africa is an $8 million Technical Assistant Fund with the primary objective to provide technical assistance grants to AfriCap portfolio companies in order to accelerate their institutional development capacity. Fintech will support innovative business concepts in Africa, which will increase the scale and scope of financial service delivery. Fintech will help improve the governance structure within companies and the services they bring to the low income and under-served, as well as develop excellent management and support for the implementation of new technologies that increase outreach to the poor. Fintech aims to improve the performance and expand the outreach of African financial service providers that focus on poor clients.
Fintech is vital in the process of helping investor institutions overcome challenges related to insufficient capacity. By providing a range of instruments and resources to support the development and growth of well-managed and well-governed institutions, Fintech helps to create value for low-income and vulnerable populations. In addition, it helps mitigate investment risks in very poor markets, thereby contributing to long-term sustainable investment and maximized outreach to the under-served.
Through this combined approach, the Fintech’s technical assistance adds value by: • Supporting AfriCap’s portfolio companies:
The Africap Investment Company recognizes that it is operating in emerging markets and, as a result, its investor institutions have significant capacity gaps that need to be addressed. The technical assistance interventions are aimed at closing such gaps and thereby accelerating the growth of portfolio companies.
• Allowing AfriCap to build new microfinance capacity:
The funding enables AfriCap to enter and build capacity in new frontier markets and to apply new technologies to microfinance that will improve the industry as it expands access to the under-served.
• Providing support to industry development:
The AfriCap network is in a unique position to identify critical obstacles to the growth of the industry. The grants will have a direct and measurable impact on alleviating poverty, and will help the under-served engage in the formal financial sector.
Contact Information Oumy Sene Tel: +27 (0) 11 784 0815 oumy@meceneinvestment.com.
