Africa a ‘wonderful place to make money’

Many foreign companies are not aware of the high returns on investment possible in Africa, says Mo Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and founding chairman of Satya Capital Ltd.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim

Ibrahim was speaking during a session at the Fortune/Time/CNN Global Forum in Cape Town on Saturday.

“Merrill Lynch published a report a couple of years ago. They said if you compare an African company with an Indian company (where both companies have the same market capitalisation), you’ll find that the Indian company is covered 15 times more by research reports than the African company,” Ibrahim said.

According to him the lack of information about Africa is holding back foreign investment. “Where there is no light, there is no knowledge.”

“This is a wonderful place to really make money. We have one billion people hungry for everything,” Ibrahim added.

South African businessman, Cyril Ramaphosa, who also participated in the discussion, said that “many who have been brave enough to invest in the African continent have made quite a lot of money.”