The North Africa region, represented by the major economies of Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, enjoys favorable consumer dynamics. These dynamics include a young and rapidly expanding population, swift urbanization, rising income levels, and widespread adoption of digital technologies. These factors create a fertile environment for investment in growth capital. The region's youthful and growing population provides a large and diverse consumer base, offering numerous market opportunities. Urbanization drives new consumer demands, spurring business growth and fostering a hub for talent and innovation. Private equity investors find the region appealing due to these factors. Increasing incomes contribute to the growth of the middle class, generating demand across various sectors and making the region an attractive investment destination. The rise of digitalization and improvements in digital infrastructure unlock new markets like e-commerce and fintech, which offer significant untapped potential for investment. 

North Africa possesses several ingredients critical to fostering economic growth and prosperity:

1. Improving institutional quality: Institutions are broadly defined in this context to cover everything from well-defined property rights and fair tax systems to the consistent application of the rule of law. 

2. Openness to trade: Openness to trade and FDI provides access to larger markets and new technology, and is consistently found to be a necessary condition in driving long-term economic growth.

3. Education: As economies grow rapidly, they require a steady supply of skilled workers, and more years of schooling are a prerequisite for sustaining economic development.

4. Macro stability: A largely stable macro environment supportive of economic development and more certain future returns with stable prices and incentives.

5. Infrastructure quality: Transport infrastructure, reliable electricity supply and, increasingly, internet access are important elements in ensuring ongoing development.

6. Labour force growth: A key component of economic prosperity is a growing and skilled labour force, able to deliver sustained output with increased productivity.

The RMBV team has been investing in the future of North Africa for over 15 years. Our investment thesis evolves around the emerging consumer in North Africa, supported by a young and growing population, rapid urbanization and rising incomes, resulting in a structural increase in consumption that is expected across both the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors, with industries such as education services, financial services, household products, packaged foods, and healthcare expected to benefit disproportionately given the demographics of the region. Within this dynamic and evolving growth context, we actively track a host of interconnected trends that help us identify and define our target investment sectors. These trends span across various industries, including but not limited to, consumer goods, healthcare, education, and financial services. By leveraging our deep understanding of these trends and our operational expertise, we are well-positioned to create significant value in our investments, ultimately delivering strong returns to our investors. 

We actively track a host of interconnected trends that help us identify and define our target investment sectors.

1. Growing consumption and shifting spending patterns: Young, urbanizing consumers and improving economic fundamentals are providing fertile ground for growth. We believe rising wage growth, a large concentration of the millennial population, access to higher-quality education and the proliferation of and access to technology are creating a new consumer market driven by mobility and connectivity supported by a growing middle class. This is further driven by the rapid urbanization the region is witnessing, all of which will lead to increasing demand for consumer products and services. As the middle class expands, companies will likely benefit from growing consumer purchasing power and shifts in spending patterns. Historically, a growing middle class has been a strong indicator of a country’s future economic growth.

2. Rising education standards and improving access to affordable quality education: As education standards across North African countries rise and access to education and training improves, productivity, employment and efficiency will likely also increase. This will likely further drive income and economic growth, consumption and expansion of the middle class, which will drive demand for products and services. We also believe with improving education and training, the region will witness improving innovation which in turn will become dominant force that will transform many industries in North Africa as the availability of quality human capital continues to improve.

3. Increasing demand for quality healthcare and wellness: The improving consumer living standards have led to dietary patterns associated with increased risk of several chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and osteoporosis. This has amplified the weakness in public sector healthcare services, the dearth of health insurance and the shortage in quality affordable healthcare providers and payors in North Africa. Furthermore, we are at the early stages of a demand shift in product segments as health and wellness become core differentiators in choice as healthcare focus shifts from treatment to prevention.

4. Advances in and the availability of new technologies and increasing role of data: We believe the advances in, and the availability of new technologies are transforming the business models of companies across North Africa and creating new digitalization opportunities for investors. Innovations in machine learning and artificial intelligence already are opening countless new opportunities in the consumer space. They are reshaping how consumers learn, research, and shop and how companies reach consumers. Whether through search algorithms, AI-assistant driven commerce, programmatic advertising, pricing algorithms, or geolocation, these advances are already transforming the consumer economy. These changes are fundamentally changing the relationship between products and consumers, creating value shifts from producers to consumers and vice versa. While North African consumers are smarter today with more choices, they are also more engaged. Seizing this engagement is the big opportunity for growth in a networked world.

5. Transformation to digital payments and access to financial services: North African consumers and businesses are at the early stages of benefitting from disruptive ideas and solutions provided by fintech companies. Innovations, entrepreneurs, and capital are reshaping North Africa’s fast-growing electronic-payments landscape with solutions for consumers and businesses alike. Consumers, on the other hand, are likely to benefit from digital banking services which can be accessed conveniently on their mobile phones, as countries start rolling out accommodative regulations. Electronic payments are also likely to benefit from fundamental economic growth factors and falling data costs.

Committed to North Africa for the long term