Last June, the MCB organized a trade week featuring a panel discussion on “Navigating African Trade Opportunities and Challenges.” Among the panelists was Preetee Jhamna, a Cambridge Economics graduate and Chartered Accountant. Her experience includes roles at Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young in Mauritius, working in Transaction Advisory Services. Since 2018, Preetee has been contributing to IBL Group, focusing on financial structuring, new ventures, and activity reviews across various sectors.
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Preetee Jhamna, CFO of IBL Group, emphasizes that Africa is a vast continent with diverse characteristics across its regions. IBL Group is specifically focused on the opportunities presented in East Africa. The key factors attracting their attention in this region are rapid urbanization, a growing population, and the corresponding needs for food, electricity, and medical services. IBL Group aims to export its expertise and offerings from the local market in Kenya to other associated countries, and its strategy involves collaborating with local partners.
“It has taken us three years in the making to build the local partnership, the knowledge of how the market works. We set up an office for business development headed by a Mauritian, who is based there, and through him, we have identified different partners and companies. Recently everything kind of came together. So we’ve been very busy since January last year on the acquisitive front in Kenya,” she says.
Preetee Jhamna highlights the importance of partnership and a win-win situation to grow businesses in Africa. “There’s a lot of interest from sovereign wealth funds, DFIs for investments to growth capital or buying out other parts of the existing partners, and they are very strong in terms of putting together the ESG framework that they have to comply with. So, instilling the kind of discipline in the investee companies that they are and being a bit of a bridge with the different other partners and actors on the scene. So I think it’s a work in progress, and each country would probably have a mix or a balance that would be specific to them. So all the different, I would call it foreign Equity Partners, will have to work together to create that framework, which is conducive to achieving the objectives not just for the investor but also for the locals because it’s also being seen to be a partner for them to develop growth and achieve the opportunity or crystallize your opportunities, we’ve all been talking about and we keep referring to. So yeah, it would have to be a partnership,” she says.
When asked about IBL Group’s appetite for further investment in Africa, Preetee Jhamna shares her insights and perspectives. She begins by saying, “Building upon our presence in the sugar industry in Tanzania and Kenya, we have a wide range of offerings here. Once you reach a certain minimum size, it becomes a bit of a tipping point.” She emphasizes the importance of being present on the ground and experiencing the African business landscape firsthand. According to Preetee, “By being present on the ground, you become very palpable and start seeing the fragmented nature of the market. Even if you’re small or may not have all the necessary resources, you can spot niches and say, ‘Okay, we can do this’ and overcome the fear of the unknown.”
Preetee believes that investing in Africa is high on the agenda for many local companies, stating, “The local market has become quite small and constrained, and if you want to keep growing and developing talents, it’s also about the ability to see the neighbor next door.”