In a current interview with How we made it in Africa, Sango Capital co-founder Richard Okello outlined the nations the place he sees the best funding potential.
Okello factors first to Egypt, which he describes as “very intentional about turning into a middle-income nation”. A key benefit is its inhabitants of some 120 million. For companies, which means an unlimited market the place they’ll obtain important scale with out ever crossing a border. Due to large-scale current funding, he expects Egypt to quickly eclipse South Africa to turn into the continent’s largest economic system.
The investor can also be cautiously optimistic about Nigeria following a sequence of reforms. Particularly, he highlights the removing of a gas subsidy that beforehand price the federal government billions of {dollars} a 12 months, and the transfer to permit the native foreign money to devalue sharply, as much-needed corrective measures.
He’s equally upbeat about Côte d’Ivoire. The world’s largest cocoa producer has been one of many continent’s fastest-growing economies, averaging greater than 6% annual progress over the previous decade.
South Africa presents a unique sort of alternative. Okello concedes its broader financial outlook is subdued – a actuality underscored by the IMF lately reducing its 2026 progress forecast to simply 1.0% attributable to geopolitical shocks within the Center East. But the nation boasts a robust non-public fairness sector, deep markets and seasoned company operators. He contrasts this with Ethiopia. Regardless of posting sturdy annual progress of practically 8% over the previous decade, Ethiopia’s comparatively shallow non-public sector provides far fewer alternatives for a agency like Sango.
Turning to East Africa, he sees potential in markets like Kenya and Tanzania. Whereas acknowledging some political points in Tanzania, he expects the nation will “in all probability shock on the upside” as a result of the federal government is “doing a variety of massive issues”. A primary instance is a $10 billion railway mission designed to hyperlink the port of Dar es Salaam to Lake Victoria, and ultimately to landlocked neighbours together with Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. With a number of sections already full, the community is poised to overtake the area’s freight transport.
Whereas additionally bullish on Morocco, the Sango co-founder warns that belongings there are getting costly. Valuations are prone to rise even additional because the nation prepares to co-host the 2030 soccer World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, driving a surge in native funding. “To earn money, you might have to have the ability to purchase issues on the proper value,” he says. “You possibly can do this typically in Morocco but it surely’s getting tougher.”
Learn/watch our full interview with Richard Okello: How one can construct a $1bn African funding agency
