Emerging Economies

Youthful demographics, rising productivity and changing technology in emerging and frontier markets create enormous investment opportunities but also necessitate systemic change in structuring development finance. Great creativity is required for delivering solutions and expanding the necessary systems. This is especially true in the crucial areas of energy, health, water and food. Technologies need to be customized, financed and deployed on massive scales to make a difference in the lives of the vulnerable poor. Gaps also exist in financing tools and programs, including loans, equity support, insurance and more. Bridging them will require scientific proficiency, fresh business models, smart incentive structures, the tailoring of technology to local conditions and geographic and cultural awareness. In this roundtable, we'll discuss social and financial innovations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia aimed at expanding growth.

Africa has raised its investment profile over the last decade, benefiting from an improving macroeconomic environment, reductions in armed conflict and the spread of democratic institutions. Although the surge of global capital flowing to Africa has been concentrated in natural resources, there are exciting opportunities in renewable energy, infrastructure, agriculture and education. Despite measurable progress, however, Africa is still grappling with challenges that include the need for higher-quality workforce training, more effective partnership models and new ways to facilitate access to capital.

Africa is home to six of the 10 fastest-growing economies, driven largely by surging foreign investment flows. FDI is expected to reach $150 billion in 2015 - double the amount received last year and six times more than in 2000. Africa is also home to the world's largest concentration of impoverished people, and the considerable gap between rich and poor continues to widen. For Africa's natural resource sector - target of 90 percent of foreign investment - to spread prosperity, reduce inequality and underwrite gains in human development, a new, collaborative approach to investment is essential. There are important roles for a range of players: investors, corporations, governments, development agencies, NGOs and foundations. This panel of global leaders will discuss innovative and untraditional ways to expand health care, build institutions and broaden the economic base on the continent.

Introduction By: Mindy Silverstein, Managing Director, Milken Institute Welcoming Remarks: Speakers: Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister, Great Britain and Northern Ireland Strive Masiyiwa, Chairman and Founder, Econet Wireless Seth Merrin, Founder and CEO, Liquidnet Jane Rowe, Senior Vice President, Teachers' Private Capital and Infrastructure, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Moderator: Michael Milken, Chairman, Milken Institute. Financial capital is the lifeblood of our globalized economy. The ease with which it flows across borders and markets influences the attractiveness of investment and business opportunities. Emerging and developing countries in particular hold great promise for high returns for various stakeholders -- including multinational corporations, mid-market companies and general and limited partners. The success stories of Singapore and South Korea are compelling examples of how open and competitive policy and regulatory environments can attract foreign direct investment and spur growth that not only benefits investors and stakeholders but also accelerates the evolution of countries and regions into sophisticated economies. The Milken Institute's Access to Global Capital Initiative tries to advance these ideas. This session will identify current and emerging opportunities for investment, delve into the best practices of nations leading the world in attracting capital and offer insights on improving the efficiency of flows around the world.

Speakers: Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc. Karim Anjarwalla, Managing Partner, Anjarwalla & Khanna Ade Ayeyemi, CEO, Sub-Saharan Africa, Citi Sara Menker, Founder and CEO, Gro Ventures James Mwangi, Managing Director and CEO, Equity Bank Group Moderator: Staci Warden, Executive Director, Center for Financial Markets, Milken Institute. Africa, home to seven of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies, deep natural resource wealth and increasingly democratic governments, has much to offer global corporations and investors. However, even as African economies continue to evolve, systemic risks remain, including opaque regulatory and tax regimes, immature legal systems and a business sector governed by informal norms that pose riddles to inexperienced outsiders. Those who wish to do business on the continent can manage these risks through legal protections, private-public partnerships, government guarantees and other mechanisms. Appropriately structuring transactions -- buyouts, private equity or debt capital investments, joint ventures, private-public partnerships, or greenfield projects -- is critical to success. This session will explore deal structure from a variety of perspectives. Panelists will share best practices, dos and don'ts, and ways to address risk through real-world examples based on their experiences.

Speakers: David Bonderman, Founding Partner, TPG Capital Dino Patti Djalal , Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Jay Ireland, President and CEO, GE Africa Seth Merrin, Founder and CEO, Liquidnet William Pearce, Acting Head, Investment Funds Department, OPIC Moderator: Mindy Silverstein, Managing Director, Milken Institute. Financial capital is the lifeblood of our globalized economy. The ease with which it flows across borders and markets influences the attractiveness of investment and business opportunities. Emerging and developing countries in particular hold great promise for high returns for various stakeholders -- including multinational corporations, mid-market companies, general and limited partners. The success stories of Singapore and South Korea are compelling examples of how open and competitive policy and regulatory environments can attract foreign direct investment and spur growth that not only benefits investors and stakeholders but accelerates the evolution of countries and regions into sophisticated economies. The Milken Institute's Access to Global Capital Initiative tries to advance these ideas. This session will identify current and emerging opportunities for investment, delve into the best practices of nations leading the world in attracting capital and offer insights on improving the efficiency of flows around the world.

Speaker: Tony Blair, Former Prime Minister, Great Britain and Northern Ireland Interviewer: Michael Milken, Chairman, Milken Institute. Institute Chairman Mike Milken sits down with Tony Blair to discuss a wide range of issues including global politics, international economics and energy as well as more personal reflections on leadership, faith and philanthropy. Blair, who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007, now represents the Quartet - the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia - in helping mediate Middle East peace negotiations. In addition to addressing the Middle East, the euro zone and other pressing geopolitical topics, this free-flowing discussion will explore the global race for human capital; the shifting natural-resource landscape; the roles of religion and culture in national development; the future of education; and Blair's philanthropic efforts, including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, created to promote respect and understanding among religions, and the Africa Governance Initiative, which will be a major focus of Wednesday's Africa panel.

Speakers: John Coombe, Executive Director, JANA Investment Advisers Thomas Flohr, Founder and Chairman, VistaJet Holding SA Chris Hoong, Managing Director, Far East Consortium International Limited Jay Pelosky, Principal, J2Z Advisory LLC Sara Zervos, Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Global Debt, OFI Global Asset Management Moderator: Francesco Guerrera, Financial Editor, Wall Street Journal. As the developed world struggled to regain momentum in the wake of the 2008 meltdown, emerging markets posted healthy growth, rising in affluence and influence. How will the developed and developing economies interact in the coming years? The BRIC nations hold substantial stores of foreign exchange. Will they go on a corporate shopping spree in the West? What of the combat among currencies? Will the developing nations draw new capital to their financial markets and eventually mount credible challenges to the dollar? And how long will global oversight entities such as the World Bank be dominated by the powers of the last century? Our panel will discuss the transformation of emerging markets and its implications for the world economy and global investors.

As a destination for direct foreign investment, China is rising - and the U.S. is falling. That's one of the findings in our newest report, The Global Opportunity Index: Attracting Foreign Investment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has never been more important in catalyzing growth, whether in the developed or developing world. It now accounts for 11 percent of global GDP and more than 80 million jobs worldwide. But which countries are creating the best environments to capture these growth-fuelling investments? Institute researchers have ranked the attractiveness for investment of 98 countries. Sixty-seven variables were assessed across five broad categories: economic fundamentals, regulatory barriers, ease of doing business, regulatory quality, and the rule of law. Hong Kong and Singapore lead the index, with Canada, Switzerland, Australia and five members of the European Union rounding out the top ten. Second from the bottom is Venezuela; as the report notes, the nationalization of foreign firms pursued by the late President Hugo Chavez has made the country a "precarious location for FDI." "The Global Opportunity Index helps identify opportunities for companies contemplating making investments of 'patient' capital," says Keith Savard, senior managing economist and one of the authors of the report. "For policy makers in the host countries, the Index helps illuminate policy changes that can be implemented quickly and often at low cost, in order to make their countries more attractive for FDI." The rank of the United States? Twenty-two - one place behind France. In Europe's economically-troubled periphery, only Ireland remained in the top 10, while Greece plunged below China and many other emerging economies. See the accompanying web tool that provides full access to the rankings, in each of the five categories, with an interactive feature that allows users to customize the rankings, screening for the investment factors that matter most to them. Part of the Milken Institute's Access to Global Capital Initiative, "The Global Opportunity Index" was developed with the support of Liquidnet, an institutional trading network that facilitates trading in 41 markets globally.