October 7, 2009
Asia, a dynamic source of investment, funding and manufacturing; Africa, widely acknowledged as the continent of underdeveloped potential.
What common denominators can map the route to this potential? Singapore as Asia’s greatest services centre and Mauritius as the investor friendly conduit to the African potential.
Four aggressive and focused, interrelated corporate groups have come together to present what they conceive is a great opportunity for both nations to benefit from their location, and investment regime to open the African and Indian Ocean Rim to explosive interchange with Asia.
This is not just about banking it is about opportunity.
Intrasia Capital recently co-hosted a presentation on the theme “Asia meets Africa” in collaboration with AfrAsia Bank Limited and Intercontinental Trust Limited from Mauritius and the Superwoman Group from Australia. Held on the 6th of October at the Art House in Singapore, this event brought together over 150 Singaporean and Malaysian professionals from the financial services industry. The presentation highlighted the many unique business growth opportunities between Asia and Africa; a growing phenomenon often called “south-south” or “Indian Ocean Rim” trade. Using their own experiences of working together, the companies showcased the various opportunities, facilities and advantages of using Mauritius as a robust, professional platform for outbound investments into Africa while acknowledging Singapore as a natural spring board to and from Asia.
In his introduction, the event’s moderator, Graeme Robertson from Intrasia Capital spoke about the parallel between Singapore as a gateway to Asia and co-operation with Mauritius as the gateway to Africa. “Let us not focus on competition but cooperation – where Singapore can benefit both from the international tax-effective corporate structure of Mauritius towards investment in Africa and its central location as a service centre for the Indian Ocean Rim, as well as providing Mauritius with the facilities for onward investment in Asia.” added Mr Robertson.
By video, Mr Maurice Lam, Chairman of the Mauritian Board of Investment and a Director of AfrAsia Bank Limited, introduced Mauritius’s development as a growing business and financial hub.
Five years ago, using Singapore as a model, the Mauritius government started a program to reform the economy of Mauritius so that it becomes more opened to the world and has a business climate conducive to doing business. The aim was to transform Mauritius into a platform for global business with a particular emphasis on services. “Mauritius is now ranked 17th in the World Bank Doing Business 2010, a confirmation the much improved business climate in Mauritius. It is becoming the base for Asian companies doing business in Africa.” said Mr Lam.
As far as the Mauritian Global Business sector is concerned, there are presently around 35,000 businesses and investment funds engaged in a wide range of global activities making use of the Mauritius global financial services platform. More than 550 investment funds alone with a Net Asset Value in excess of USD50 billion has made Mauritius the number one investor into India over the past decade and is the conduit for tax effective investment in Africa.
From one of Mauritius’ leading international management companies, Mr. Ben Lim, CEO of Intercontinental Trust Limited, spoke about Mauritius as the new international financial centre and further gave an overview of the tax and treaty advantages of using this Indian Ocean Island as a platform for outbound investments into both Africa and Asia. Mr Lim said, “China has chosen Mauritius as a base for its expansion into the African continent. Through the Jin Fei project, China will invest over S$ 1 Billion in Mauritius over the next five years. The Mauritius set up will give China duty free access to Africa and the USA through the regional association Mauritius is a member of including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (“COMESA”) and the Southern African Development Community (“SADC”).”
Ms Anna Borzi AM, Head of Superwoman Global Funds, identified women as a powerful investing force. Women, she outlined, are informed and concerned investors, particularly with regard to food security and humanitarian issues. This had particular resonance, she said, with Superwoman’s launch of a world first wholesale Global Food Security Fund in Mauritius. Ms Borzi also drew attention to the World Summit on Food Security being held next November in Rome, underlining the extremely timely and pressing nature of this issue. Packets distributed by Ms Borzi contained an average daily rice intake and proved a potent symbol of food security as a global issue demanding action.
Mrs Borzi also elaborated on the benefits of Mauritius-Singapore-Australia linkage. “The advantages and effectiveness of Mauritius as a domicile for Superwoman’s Food Security Fund is a reflection of both the quality of its services and its location.” said Ms Borzi.
On the banking sector, Mr James Benoit, CEO of AfrAsia Bank, elaborated on the range of products and services offered by the Bank to the investors. “Our focused approach on Private, Corporate and International Banking in the region has allowed us to grow successfully in only 2 years of operation. With the opening of our representative office in Cape Town, we are pursuing our strategy to be a regional player by being closer to our markets and filling a service gap that the current global crisis has created.” said Mr Benoit. “Working with Intrasia and groups like InterContinental, we can make Africa, the Last Emerging Market, the new opportunity for customers in Asia” he added.
In line with AfrAsia Bank’s strategy to promote Mauritius and be a regional cross border business hub, key staff from this banking institution have been to several continents including Europe, Africa and now Asia where they have hosted such types of seminars. On some other occasions, they have accompanied members from the Mauritian Board of Investment to promote the country as the ideal location for trade in the region and how AfrAsia Bank can help investors in their various sectors of activities.