How to make it in Africa: Pitfalls, challenges,
investment opportunities and success stories
© Imperial College Business School @Sobedih @SobekV
Best Practice Series 2014
1
© Imperial College Business School
@Sobedih @SobekV
Best Practice Series 2014
2
How to make it in Africa: Pitfalls, challenges,
investment opportunities and success stories
© Imperial College Business School @Sobedih @SobekV 3
How to make it in Africa
• Sean Ndiho Obedih
• Open Innovation and Corporate Venture capital in Africa.
• Video
• Talent
• Deal sizes/Dominant players
• Exits
• Success stories
• Opportunities.
11 February 2014 My story so far
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@Sobedih @SobekV
How to make it in Africa
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How to make it in Africa
Talent
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How to make it in Africa
Exits: Financial
services was the
most active exit
sector (23%), but
other sectors such
as food and
beverage (9%) and
telecommunications
(8%) also made
good showings,
illustrating the rise
of the African
consumer.
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How to make it in Africa
Most active CVC firms.
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How to make it in Africa
• MPESA/VODAFONE (Kenya)
• Spotted in 2002,tried in 2004 and Launched in 2007 with
£1M funding from Vodafone&DFID
• Now in Africa, India and Afghanistan
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How to make it in Africa
• Aspen/GSK
• In 2009, GSK took a 16 per cent stake in Aspen,
• granting it the right to distribute GSK products in sub-Saharan Africa. GSK also
handed over a German manufacturing facility along with marketing rights to eight
international products.
• In 2010 Aspen took control of a GSK generic drugs unit in Australia,
• In October it bought a GSK plant in France and thrombosis treatments Arixtra
(fondaparinux sodium) and Fraxiparine (nadroparin) in a deal valued at $1.1bn.
• Those deals and others such as an alliance with Merck & Co helped Aspen become
Africa’s biggest drug maker with 6,000 employees and sales of around $1.9bn in the
year ended June 30 2013, up 27 per cent year-on-year.
• It now says it is the ninth-largest generic drug maker in the world.
• GSK, recently sold 28.2 million shares in Aspen, netting around £425m ($741m).
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How to make it in Africa
Opportunities: Africa now has more mobile subscribers
than the US or EU
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How to make it in Africa
Informa UK’s terrific Africa Telecoms Outlook projects 334
million African smartphone connections by 2017.
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How to make it in Africa
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