Sturgeon Capital is an investment firm with $250m+ AUM, across Central and South Asia. As their lead in the region, Saad has made investments in startups such as:

• Zip24 - Logistics + warehouse management SaaS.
• Abhi - Employee financial wellness platform + fastest growing lender in Pakistan.
• Dealcart - Gamified, group buying for groceries and more in Pakistan.

In this episode, Saad gives us a tour of the investment landscape in Pakistan as it relates to early stage technology companies that are building digital infrastructure for Pakistan's 235m+ Population.

I hope you enjoy this conversation.

He currently heads strategy for the largest developer of industrial real estate (warehousing) in the Middle East & Africa - Agility.

Prior to Agility, Ronald worked at McKinsey & Company for several years, serving Ministers and CEOs of developers and institutional investors in real estate and infrastructure.

Earlier in his career, Ronald worked with the World Economic Forum, PwC’s infrastructure practice, GE Capital and the World Bank. Ronald holds an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode and a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

In this episode, we discussed:

• Ronald's personal backstory, growing up in Zambia, England and India, going to the Harvard Kennedy School and a career criss crossing emerging markets across continents.
• The big picture of the massive investment and roll out of transport infrastructure and real estate investment across Africa, India, and the Middle East.
• Data centers being the next big infrastructure and real estate asset class.
• A primer on the biggest opportunities and markets in Africa, India, and the Middle East.
• Building a winning strategy for emerging markets
• Lessons for students and young professionals looking to build a career in emerging markets (career philosophy and strategy).

This was phenomenally fun to record - and I always learn an immense amount when I speak to Ronald. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

In this episode, we sat down to discuss:

• An oral history of the USSR's privatisations, the fog of war, and the opportunities that arose as the world transitioned during that time.
• Landmark transactions that shaped emerging markets @Renassance Capital
• The evolution of emerging markets from the perspective of an observer and participant over the last 20 years.
• The nature of development, economic growth, and building prosperity within these regions - and how investors can contribute + capitalise.

This was an incredible episode with tons of wisdom; hope you enjoy!

In this episode, we discuss:

• Uzbekistan's recent steps towards market liberalisation and public asset privatisation.
• Uzbekistan's natural competitive advantages, industry structure, and broader opportunity set regarding agriculture and natural resource processing + production.
• Lessons from boom/bust cycles in places like Mongolia.
• Lessons from iconic frontier markets investments made by peers.

I always enjoy learning from Scott. Here's a link to his telegram notepad. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode!

• The capital stack for founders in Africa and general market infrastructure and norms.
• Founder agility in frontier markets; dealing with currency fluctuations, infrastructure gaps, and more.
• Lessons from interacting with international development institutions, regional banking systems in regions like Kenya/Nigeria, and SMEs in South AFRICA.
• Alternate data, credit systems, localisation, and distribution channels.
• More!

Nic is an incredible storyteller - and working on a product that aims to solve a significant problem. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

Here's a link to Nic's Linkedin and the Vula website.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Overrated and underrated themes for startup investing in frontier markets. Spoliers - Overrated: Fintech/Point-Solution Productions. Underrated: Security Tech!
• Portfolio construction for early stage VC firms in frontier markets.
• Iconic companies and technologies worth studying in frontier markets.
• The DC <> Africa Corridor (IMF/USAID) vs China in Africa Corridor (Belt and Road)
• How to add value to portfolio companies in frontier markets.

I deeply enjoyed recording this episode - and I hope you will as well.

Sturgeon Capital is a thesis driven investment firm, that invests across VC and PE in regions such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and more.

This is one of my favourite episodes, in which we cover:

• What are the lessons we can learn from historic
• What are the most enduring, valuable, and high growth potential assets for frontier markets?
• How does one build a process for sourcing, selecting, and cultivating these?
• What are the ways to think about macro factors in frontier markets?
• What does a 30+ year time horizon unlock when thinking about frontier markets?
• What does it mean to build a meaningful life?
• What are the lessons we can learn from great founders in markets like Iran and Kazakhstan?

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!

Mwiya is also a partner at Thebe Investment Management, Frontier Capital Partners, and Akili Ventures; all of which apply different approaches to constructing portfolios in Africa.

This episode covers:

• The market for infrastructure and master planning across Africa
• Operational lessons from 9 years of building a city in Zambia, during a cycle of three currency devaluations
• Zambian economic history
• Investing in real assets across Africa
• Incubating technology companies in West Africa
• Theories of industrialisation and state development
• Lessons from Investor AB, Warren Buffet, Rockefeller, and other great capital allocators

I really enjoyed recording this episode - and I hope you find it as insightful as I did.

Pierre has worked with entrepreneurs in regions like Libya, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, and more. This episode covers:

• What types of businesses are viable in post-conflict zones?
• What's the tech stack and state of infrastructure in places like Libya and Yemen?
• Stories of entrepreneurship in highly constrained environments
• Institutional dynamics across these regions
• The spiritual imperative of adventure in Frontier Markets

This was a really fun episode to record. I learnt a lot from Pierre, and hope to get a chance to work/invest/build within some of these regions in my lifetime.

Ali was lucky enough to have been part of a team that founded one of Syria’s first English Language Daily newsdesks, has extensive experience across the middle east, and was a fellow at the Charter City Institute.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The history, state, problems, and potential opportunities within regions like Syria, Libya, and Lebanon.
• Creative legal and institutional design -
• The potential for crypto to build meaningful institutions where there is are clear gaps
• Lessons from the rise of gulf states and the DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre)
• How to think about international market expansion from a due diligence standpoint

Beth and Kleiman have been covering emerging markets for 35+ years. They've seen multiple cycles of sovereign debt crises (Brady Bonds), emerging market booms (Asian Tigers), and more.

This episode covers:

• A thematic history of frontier and emerging markets, and its relationship with the IMF/World Bank
• Current patterns of sovereign debt distress in 20+ countries; most of which are in Africa.
• Turkey's recent election, its industrial history over the last 2 decades, and questions regarding its future
• Egypt's decades of 'economic reform'
• Debt for Nature Swaps
• Emerging Markets Themes for the next decade.

This was an incredibly informative episode (apologies for the lacklustre audio!). I hope you enjoy it.

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Related resources:

• Kleiman International's Twitter Account (highly recommend their feed).
• Kleiman International's Website.
• Beth on Linkedin.

Simon has been deeply involved in building multiple lines of business that export commodities from Africa outwards. This is one of the great ways to accelerate economic growth.

In this episode, we cover:

• The life cycle of supply chain construction
• The map of logistics infrastructure across Africa
• Case study of exporting ginger and palm kernel shells from Nigeria.
• Murphy's law in developing markets.
• The longer term potential for agriculture in West Africa.

I really enjoyed recording this episode because it centred around the operational realities of fundamental industries; minerals, energy, agriculture, and logistics.

I hope you enjoy it as well.

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Related resources:

• Camscorp's Website
• Simon's Linkedin
• Reading List on Supply Chains

Zack has been involved in unlocking capital for small and medium sized businesses in emerging markets for the last decade; and Jia Finance is the latest culmination of those efforts.

In this episode, we cover:

• The origin story of Jia Finance; a crypto lending protocol that makes it easier for global pools of capital to engage in data driven lending for SMEs in Kenya, Philippines, and India
• The market landscape for crypto meeting emerging markets
• Industry overviews of the financial systems in Kenya and Philippines.
• Stories of founders in emerging markets, and discussion on cultures of entrepreneurship.

This was an incredibly fun conversation. In particular, I liked the part where we got to touch upon the design space of community finance within different cultures.

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Related Resources:

• Jia Finance on Twitter
• Zack on Linkedin
• Cool Newsletter on Crypto across Africa.

In this episode of the Frontier Markets Podcast, we have a conversation with Steven Jasmin; Guyana's leading merchant banker, asset manager, and commercial real estate developer. Steven is a serial founder, with experiences ranging from working with Louisiana Oil Families, SF Technology Companies, Gulf State Capital, and more. Our conversations covers the following topics:

• The origin story of Guyana, its unique cultural dynamics, and how its growth engine works
• The recent history of Guyana and how it has engaged in capacity building over the previous decade.
• The current pipeline of infrastructure and projects that are coming on-line in Guyana this decade
• Comparing Guyana to peers, to contextualise its growth story.
• How Steven's firm has positioned itself to capitalise and accelerate a generational opportunity of wealth creation; for the country, investors, citizens, and more.
• Steven's operating philosophy and how to apply it to Frontier and Emerging Markets.

This is one of my favourite episodes, so I hope you, dear listener, enjoy this as much as I did.

If you're a high agency person and want to learn more, check out:

• Steven's writing on Linkedin
• Reach out to me at krish[at]frontiermarkets[dot]institute -- I'd love to share some of my favourite readings and add you to a group chat of others who are learning more about this market.

• The macro narratives that have shaped perceptions of the African continent over the last 5 years. Covid, Sovereign Debt, and Commodities.
• The geopolitics and geo-economics of the African continent; Ukraine, China, Russia, USA, France, India, and more.
• A quick tour of the risk/return perceptions of Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and the DRC.
• Opportunities that are created by risk misperception - and philosophies of political risk analysis as a whole.

If you want to learn more, check out the following links:

• Signal Risk
• Ronak’s Linkedin

Finally, if you want to discuss any of the ideas here and want a thought partner that isn’t GPT4, feel free to get in touch with me at krish(at)frontiermarkets.institute.

• The power of diaspora funding and engagement in building thriving startups ecosystems.
• The attributes of startup ecoystems that work, versus those that don’t.
• A tour of significant startup exits and case studies across various ecosystems; Pakistan, Indonesia, Tunisia, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil.
• Exploring business models that are unique to frontier markets.

If you enjoyed this episode, I highly recommend taking a look at Timothy’s writing on the Realistic Optimist:

• On Tunisia’s Startup Ecosystem
• On Daba Finance
• On Mpharma
• More

• The importance of industrialisation for economic growth and unlocking regional economies within Africa
• The full stack investment approach that enables the creation and growth of economic ecosystems - and how this differs from otherwise fragmented approaches to interacting with nascent markets.
• Long/short theses on nations like Nigeria, Guinea, and more.
• Elite theory, elite coordination.
• Mining, sovereign wealth funds, and philosophies of capital reallocation.
• Urbanisation in Africa.
• Next generation industrialists on the African continent.

Alpha is working on a truly exciting and generationally important set of ventures. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Resources of note:

• The Tycoons; How Andrew Carnegie, Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and JP Morgan Invented The American Supereconomy. by Charles Morris
• Gambling on Development by Stephan Dercon.
• Alpha's Philosophical Writings.
• Temple Cities Announcement.
• The Prepared (cool blog on supply chains and industrialisation).

In this episode, we cover:

• Comparative politics and economics on the largest countries in Africa; Nigeria, DRC, South Africa, and more.
• The economic and industry/sector history of Ghana.
• The history of government finances and debt in Ghana.
• Today's Sovereign Debt Crisis in Ghana; bottlenecks, and roads to recovery.

Related resources to this episode:

• Fidel's fantastic blog on Linkedin.
• Ghana's Economic History (Wiki)
• Bright Simons on Ghana's Sovereign Debt Crisis.
• The Fastest Billion, on Africa's Economic Future, by Charlie Robertson.

This episode covers:

• History and Industry Structure of Mining in Mongolia
• Unique Geopolitics of Mongolia that make it a great place for FDI.
• Improving infrastructure and effetively building up other sectors beyond mining in Mongolia.
• Themes for 2023 and beyond.

Resources related to the episode:

• Renaissance Capital’s Memo on Mongolia’s ‘Wolf Economy’
• ODI on Mongolia
• Oyu Tolgoi Mine
• Mogul Ventures Tin Project
• Mogul VC Website
• Jamul on Linkedin

• Launching and publicly listing a $300m+ Macau Residential Property Fund.
• Founder & CEO of Sarnia Asset Management; a fund of funds that invests in niche emerging managers.
• Researching and writing about the best off-beat ideas in frontier and emerging markets ideas. He writes on his blog, Undervalued Shares, and has been featured in the Financial Times, Investment Migration Insider, and more. He’s covered ideas ranging from Guyana’s oil growth, to Venezuela as a distressed asset recovery play.

In this episode, we covered:

• The history of Frontier Markets Investing; touching upon case studies such as Adolf Lundin’s investments in Qatar, telecoms companies in emerging markets, the investment landscape after the USSR broke up, and more.
• Lessons learned from case studies and pioneering individuals who have shaped various developing markets over previous decades.
• Themes to track regarding the future of frontier markets; digitisation (Kaspi), natural resources (as we move to a world that needs more rare earth metals).
• The unique attributes of frontier markets investing; ranging from extreme volatility, to venture like returns potential, and more.

Resources we mentioned in the podcast:

Swen has a brilliant series with case studies on investing where most investors don't dare go, and pulling off extraordinary feats:

• On Adolf Lundin in Qatar and the Guyana Opportunity.
• Investing in Iraq.
• Venezuela as a Distressed Debt Play.

We also mentioned:

• Sturgeon Capital’s Differentiated Frontier Markets VC Thesis.
• Bill Browder’s memoir from his time investing in Russia.
• Lessons from VMV Global (previously Lundin Group’s natural resource vehicles, but now focused on emerging markets digitisation).