What does it take to get Indian investors excited about making investments in Africa?
That was the question at an evening dinner panel hosted by Gateway House’s director Ambassador Neelam Deo on March 14. More than 20 African leaders from 10 countries attended the session as part of a national tour hosted by India’s External Affairs Ministry.
“There is always money for the right investments”, said Sasha Mirchandani, a private investor who runs Kae Capital, a fund that he says now has hundreds of investors waiting to get in. “You need to show why your country is attractive, how efficiently an investment can be introduced and how we can get our money out”.
Risk was high on the agenda. “We are very interested in Africa, it is growing with many opportunities. But we need to know if we put in money now, will it still be there 5 years from now? or disappear, as it did in the past?”, explained Gautam Shewakramani, who runs AudioCompass, a travel and tourism investment company. “Creating space for failure is so important for entrepreneurs,” he added.
Both investors cited recent Asian changes that worked. In Sri Lanka, after 30 years of civil war, the government has now set up a program for a 1-stop shopping investment. “That’s fantastic,” said Mirchandani. In Thailand he said his fund did a venture with AIDS testing equipment that cut the testing costs by half. “Show us a solid plan and we will come take a look,” he promised.
Besides, Shewakramani recalled the significance of getting the right infrastructure. However, he also insisted that equally important is soft infrastructure, especially regulation.
Neelam Deo is India’s former ambassador to Denmark and Ivory Coast, and served in Washington and New York. She is the director and co-founder of Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.
Sasha Mirchandani is Managing Partner at Kae Capital, an early seed stage fund. His is also co-funder of Mumbai Angels, India’s first Angel Investment group.
Gautam Shewakramani is a co-founder of Ras Maestros, a technology start-up in the handheld multimedia guide business.