PE firm targets Africa with new funding model

One Thousand & One Voices LLC, an Africa-focused private-equity fund is bringing together leading and wealthy families from America to sub Sahara Africa with a view to creating jobs and economic development.

“We will be supporting the growing middle class in Africa which will also see us invest in sectors such as Agriculture, consumer goods, financial services, health care, logistics & distribution, and manufacturing,” Hendrik Jordaan, president and chief executive officer of the fund, said in a March 19 interview with BusinessDay.

“The private equity fund will help transform companies in Africa.”

One Thousand & One Voices was started by John Coors of the Coors Brewing family, who are investing their Relational Capital, Intellectual Capital and Patient Financial Capital — or Three-Dimensional Capital – to profitably accelerate prosperity in developing markets, starting with a $300 million fund for sub-Saharan Africa, Jordaan said.

“The private equity fund will also help investee companies grow by ensuring they have best practice in accounting, procurement practices and corporate governance,” he said.

“The fund will forge relationship between wealthy Nigeria families and other families in the world.”

One Thousand & One Voices will lead a delegation of families to the World Economic Forum’s conference in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja in May, according to Jordaan.

Because the movement is made up exclusively of families who are investing not only their financial capital but also their connections across the world (Relational Capital) and their industry-specific acumen and experience (Intellectual Capital), One Thousand & One Voices offers a unique type of private equity model that is focused on active involvement among investors to help investee companies grow and create jobs.

“You can call it Private Equity 2.0,” Jordaan said.

The fund, which is set to open its Lagos office, is looking to do its first deal in Nigeria, very soon, according to Jordaan.

“There are over 100 opportunities on our radar,” said Jordaan.

“However our first couple of deals in Nigeria will involve a consumer facing company and the other is a manufacturer both based in Lagos.

PATRICK ATUANYA & BALA AUGIE