AFRICA INVESTMENT: Cash-rich African private equity still on a learning curve

[riky]

AFRICA INVESTMENT: Cash-rich African private equity still on a learning curve

By Duncan Miriri NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan entrepreneur Ayisi Makatiani scrapped his first effort to launch a private equity fund 10 years ago because his pitch to invest in Africa couldn't raise enough cash to make it work. Fast forward a decade and he is now managing partner of Fanisi Capital, a $50 million fund that has investments across east Africa in agri-business, healthcare, retail and education. "The returns in Europe and the rest of the world have been low so the only place where you get good risk-adjusted returns is Africa," U.S.-educated Makatiani, 47, said from a swanky office block on Nairobi's upmarket Riverside Drive, where other new financial ventures have set up a regional base. Their expansion marks a turnaround in attitudes to Africa, but masks many of the emerging challenges for both new and more experienced private equity firms on the continent.

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