Africa – The next investment frontier

There is an increasing international perception that Africa is standing now at a turning point. It has become one of the world’s top growth areas (5.6% per annum) thanks to the structural reforms being put in place and its demographic dividend for the next 40 years. After being seen as the lost continent for decades, the urbanization of Africa and the emergence of a huge urban consumer market will generate sustainable growth. For the first time, the highest returns are in the sectors delivering goods and services to Africans themselves. Although, Africa is still perceived as a high-risk destination for investors, experience and facts show positive returns and lower risks than those captured by the financial markets. Thus actors investing professionally in the continent see higher returns thanks to the misperception of risk which leads to above-average risk/return ratios. As a consequence, the emergence of the continent reflects in the over performance of all African asset classes for the last decade.