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Citadel makes case for Africa at World Economic Forum

Citadel Capital, a private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa, made a strong case for Africa’s growth potential at the 20th World Economic Forum on Africa held in Dar El-Salam, Tanzania, on 5-7 May 2010.

Based in Cairo and controlling investments of USD8.3bn in 15 industries spanning 14 countries, Citadel Capital is the largest private equity firm in Africa by private equity assets under management.
 
“Africa’s population has reached one billion and is set to grow faster than in any other part of the world in the coming decades. While some may view this as a challenge, we believe that demography is strong component of the case supporting private investment in Africa,” Citadel Capital managing director Karim Sadek (pictured) said at the forum. “The African consumer and worker, who is too often overlooked, is the continent’s unknown engine of growth.”
 
Sadek said infrastructure will be key to unlocking the demographic dividend by connecting local producers to national markets, national markets to regional hubs, and regional hubs to global export territories.
 
“Infrastructure development is critical to turning Africa’s rapidly growing population into a robust domestic market. This is particularly critical for a continent on which there are more than 20 countries with populations of less than five million, more than 20 countries with economies smaller than USD5bn annually, and 15 landlocked nations. The result, of course, is that most infrastructure tends to be national or regional,” he added.

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