Business opportunities in the Sub-Saharan African market. The Group ETC case

Abstract

This master thesis is based on few questions: it is wondered if African region, and especially Sub-Saharan one, is a profitable market and how to enter it. A general overview of the continent is presented, according to macro-economic, geopolitical and social factors, focusing also on market frameworks and future trends of the region. In a second step, the focus moves towards the actual business and commercial situation between Italy and African continent: Italian import and export linked to African region and Italian relationships with the African continent have been analyzed, giving a snapshot on the actual Italia-Africa axes. Thirdly, countries belonging to this area have been analyzed and ranked, discovering the most economically attractive ones. Countries have been analyzed through some key indicators, trying to collect the most important macroeconomic, socio-cultural, political and financial aspects. Finally, in the second part of the dissertation, the ‘how’ to approach this market is analyzed, through the case of an Italian specialized financial institution playing in this field: ETC Invest S.p.A. The story of its ‘entrepreneurship and finance’ business case is briefly presented, in which the entrepreneurial vision of the founders is carried out today with a larger institutional mission: to develop new profitable industrial projects in Africa, in order to build a virtual bridge to connect Europe and African continent. A practical business case of support, managed by the group ETC, is analyzed through the analysis of a real business plan and the ‘after sales’ monitoring of the interested company. ETC’s business model is presented and questioned if it is sustainable, profitable and replicable in the future also for other business cases.