Undoing the African Debt Trap

The sponsor informational lunch will include a company presentation and the opportunity to connect with some of the company's executives over lunch.

Although Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA)— where entrepreneurs search for and acquire stable, cash-flow positive businesses to grow them over time—is growing in popularity across North America, few “search funds” have been established in Africa. Indeed, there has been limited data to support the case for investing in African search funds and the benefits of this novel asset class. 

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Still, ETA remains uniquely positioned to unlock value, attract talent, and accelerate the growth and development of SMEs—particularly family businesses—across the continent. This panel will focus on three key questions: 

(1) Is Africa ripe for the growth of search funds? 

(2) How can the traditional search fund model be adapted to work in/for the African context? 

(3) What other models can we leverage to see more African ETAs? 

(4) Share some success stories and what we can learn from them.

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In the past decade, the African continent has experienced a remarkable surge in startup activity, as many enterprising individuals have set their sights on solving local challenges through innovative solutions. However, this momentum has been met with a challenging year, where several startups have been forced to either shut down or significantly downsize to weather the current storm. This panel will focus on how African startups can scale from 0 to 1 and from 1 to 100 and how they can access capital, talent, and mentorship to fuel sustainable growth.