Frontier Markets News

Tarik Senhaji, the CEO of the Casablanca Stock Exchange in Morocco, joins us to talk about Morocco's role in West Africa and beyond, the stock exchange's ingenious strategy for encouraging more firms to list, and the impact of generational change in Morocco.

Florizelle Lisser, the head of the US-based Corporate Council on Africa, joins us to talk about new opportunities emerging for American companies to invest into Africa. She also shares some unique insights about investment trends—and how to tap into funding from development finance institutions.  

Deep in the Colombian Amazon, a group of indigenous leaders are working to protect and restore the rainforest using innovative techniques funded by carbon- and biodiversity credits. We talk to Drea Burbank, founder of grassroots conservation-focused B-Corp Savimbo, which is helping create a new market for authentic, verifiable credits that can channel funding direct to the people stewarding the forest.

The World Bank's private-sector investing arm, the IFC, is pushing into deep-tech investing to help supercharge its efforts to support equitable and sustainable development around the world. We talk to Bill Sonneborn, the IFC's director of disruptive technologies and funds, about green steel, AI, learning technology and opportunities for smaller emerging markets to benefit from breakthrough technologies.

The tiny East African nation of Djibouti plays an outsize role in tackling conflicts and crises in the Horn of Africa region. We talk to Mohamed Siad Doualeh, Djibouti's ambassador to the US, about Djibouti's responsibility as a peacemaker in the Horn of Africa region, and its determination to expand its role as a trade and diplomatic hub.  All of Africa will benefit if the region's problems can be solved, Doualeh says. “Africa is losing billions of dollars a year to conflict, and it's high time we turned that around.”

Josh Rubin, portfolio manager at $40+ billion asset manager Thornburg's Developing World fund, joins us for a stroll through key emerging and frontier markets regions. He digs into the impact of recent developments in China, investment opportunities in the Middle East, why Saudi Arabia appears to be tightening its friendships with a host of nations that are not considered exactly friendly to the West, and how a slight change in sentiment among global investors could tip off much greater changes in emerging markets.

Impact investors  and cryptocurrency advocates have long talked about the potential for blockchain-based technology to transform the lives of people in small emerging markets. The NGO Mercy Corps put its money where its mouth is with an impact fund focused specifically on using the tech to solve some of the gnarliest problems in human development, disaster response and financial inclusion.  In this pod, Mercy Corps Ventures' Ken Kou shares insights and learnings from their adventures in Web3. It turns out that crypto's ‘killer app' might be that it can save lives.

Enthusiasm for impact investing was growing strongly before Covid hit, but the economic and social disruption the pandemic triggered prompted many organizations to rethink their goals and exposed flaws in many impact investors' strategies. Aleem Remtula, a partner at Developing World Markets, an impact firm with a 27-year track record, shares his insights on how the pandemic affected the impact sector itself, and how investors can use the lessons learned to create more positive impact, more awareness of the need for integrity, and better outcomes for investors and the beneficiaries of their funds.  Looking for ideas? Remtula also shares where he sees opportunities, and where valuations might have been beaten down a little too much.

There's no doubt South Africa is in the midst of a crisis. But how deep is it? According to John Steenhuisen, the head of the country's leading opposition party, it's existential. Steenhuisen explains to FMN why the need for South Africa to repair and enhance its weakening relationships with traditional partners such as the US and the European Union is so urgent, and why his party — which by his own admission has no chance of forming a majority government in next year's general election — is working to build a coalition that can break the long-ruling African National Congress party's stranglehold on power. Even if that means partnering with the ANC itself. At stake: South Africa's relationship with the West, its appeal to foreign investors and the welfare of its 60 million people.

Making money from oil-drilling takes a long time. Matthias Pitkowitz is on a mission to show that making money from saving forests doesn't.  Pitkowitz, founder of EQX Biome, is working with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to show that protecting rainforests can be more lucrative than sucking out the oil underneath them. His plan would channel some $3 billion in tax revenues to DRC over 20 years and guarantee the country's rainforest ecosystem — a priceless natural asset — would remain intact.  It turns out we can save the planet. Find out how.

Charlie Robertson, chief global economist at frontier- and EM-focused Renaissance Capital, joins us to dig into the new Saudi story, whether emerging markets investors got a bit too excited early this year, how long we can expect the dollar to retain its primacy and when African nations will reach escape velocity.    Charlie also spills the beans on questions he's asking about his own portfolio. Should he go ex-China? Listen on to find out.

After a difficult 2022, Vietnamese equities are stabilizing and set for steady, if unexciting, performance in 2023. But next year? Fasten your seatbelts and hang onto your hats — the rebound will be dramatic, according to Bill Stoops, CIO at Ho Chi Minh-based Dragon Capital.  Listen in to learn more about where and how the market will outperform from one of the most experienced equity investors in Vietnam. 

Vietnam was one of the most successful countries at managing the pandemic and is one of the primary beneficiaries of the current trend for disinvesting in China. Many investors, though, still overestimate the risks of putting money to work in this vibrant southeast Asian economy. In this episode, Chad Ovel, a partner at Ho Chi Minh-based Mekong Capital, gives us the inside scoop on what they're missing — and how the dramatic progress Vietnam has made over the past decade is just the first chapter in a multi-generational growth story.

Jarred Glansbeek, founder and chief investment officer at $2 billion EM and FM investment firm RisCura has some advice for navigating seemingly cheap markets that are clouded by uncertainty — and prone to bouts of unexpected volatility. “There's a big portion of emerging markets that has a great earnings story. The equity markets are looking good.”

Getting funding to projects in developing countries is one of the thorniest problems in international development. Crossboundary, an innovative firm that started life creating off-grid solar-power projects in East Africa, might just have cracked the code. Meet Matt Tilleard, Crossboundary's co-founder, to learn about how they're channelling the capital looking to do good in the world to where it's needed most, how they've deployed more than $1 billion already, and how the economics of distributed renewable energy are improving exponentially. The future is bright!

Asha Mehta, a brilliant data-driven investor, has carved a very successful niche for her firm Global Delta Capital at the junction of impact, profit and sustainability. We dig into the substantial overlap between impact investing, innovation and frontier-emerging markets investing, explore opportunities for investors in Africa and beyond, and unpack the benefits of blended capital, responsible investment and the UN's SDGs. #ESG #ClimateFinance #CatalyticCapital #ImpactInvesting

Lots of people talk about empowering African entrepreneurs, about enabling young Africans to build their own futures. Tony Elumelu stumped up $100 million of his own money to actually do it. The results are remarkable. The thousands of budding business owners who've passed through the Tony Elumelu Foundation's entrepreneurship program have created hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to a PwC analysis. In this episode, we talk to Somachi Chris-Asoluka as she takes over as CEO of the foundation about the real impact empowering entrepreneurs can have, as well as her vision for the future. Spoiler alert: We need more people and organizations to step up. Prepare to be inspired!

If you're wondering whether the blistering rally in emerging markets assets can continue, fear not! Razia Khan, chief economist for Africa and the Middle East at Standard Chartered bank, has the answer. She also deciphers what's been happening with African debt, drills into Zambia's prospects, flags some good news from Angola … and, while she scrupulously doesn't frame it as such, she also has some very helpful advice for Nigeria's leading presidential candidates. Curious about Africa's prospects? Listen on! You might hear something like this: “Despite all the shocks, there is still a growth dynamic in Africa that is surprising positively.”

Green bonds as a leading indicator for credit upgrades, reform stories in Indonesia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and beyond, a look at what's coming down the pike for Pakistan (as well as what it can learn from Egypt) and a few tips for investors looking for that hidden gem, off the beaten path. Spoiler alert: It might be Oman. Matt Vogel, Head Strategist and Portfolio Manager at frontier- and emerging-markets fund manager FIM Partners, shares his thoughts on the promises and pitfalls facing frontier and growth market investors in 2023.

As frontier markets find themselves—and in some cases place themselves—at the heart of some of the most important challenges the planet and the world's economies are facing, investors are seeing new opportunities that simply couldn't have existed just a few years ago. We meet up with pioneering frontier-markets investor Alison Graham of Voltan Capital Management to talk about digitizing supply chains, the management of waste, tackling climate change … and blockchain. Cutting edge stuff, indeed!

Tina Jabeen left a cushy job at a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley to help startups and women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh build their businesses. Six years later, she describes a thriving startup ecosystem supported by investments from some of the world's biggest and most successful venture capitalists.

With decades of experience as an investor and years of academic research under his belt, Marshall Stocker, co-head of emerging markets debt at Morgan Stanley, has pinpointed how changes in economic freedom correlate with potential investment performance. Along the way he's learned a thing or two about the power investing can have — and how to wield that power responsibly.

After three brutal years that saw Sri Lanka battered by global forces and crippled by self-inflicted wounds, the South Asian island nation could be poised for recovery. Asia Frontier Capital's Ruchir Desai and Auerbach Grayson's Abhijit Kukreji join FMN host Dan Keeler to discuss the prospects for the former frontier-investor darling.

Capital Economics' chief emerging markets economist William Jackson shares his thoughts on what 2023 will serve up. Spoiler alert: Frontier and emerging markets might recover before the West sees a turnaround.