PRINT THIS PAGE

Venture capital for industrial development

The risks associated with investing in developing countries and the limited nature of the VC industry has made institutions wary of committing capital to Africa. Adrie de Groot of UNIDO outlines the problems that the African VC industry is facing and proposes a scheme that would aid the industry's success across this continent.

Venture capital activity in Africa has historically consisted of a mere handful of transactions involving larger investments. These have also tended to be limited to a few industries - mining, tourism and infrastructure - as they offer relatively safe and rapid returns. However, the venture capital industry could enjoy greater success if investments in smaller and more diverse companies were to be encouraged.

Copyright © 2002 UNIDO

Click here to view the full article (pdf 2700kb)

You need Adobe Acrobat to read this document. If you do not have it, you can download it free from www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

Adrie de Groot is deputy to the director of the programme coordination branch at UNIDO

UNIDO was set up in 1966 and became a specialised agency of the United Nations in 1985. As part of the United Nations common system, UNIDO has responsibility for promoting industrialisation throughout the developing world, in cooperation with its 169 Member States. Its headquarters are in Vienna, and with 35 country and regional offices, 13 investment and technology promotion offices and a number of offices related to specific aspects of its work, UNIDO maintains an active presence in the field.  For more information please visit www.unido.org