The Future of Growth Markets: More Than Just a BRIC in the Wall

An EMPEA Professional Development Webcast with Harvard Business School Professor Josh Lerner and senior members from The Abraaj Group, a leading investor across the global growth markets of Asia, Latin America, Africa, Turkey/Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Join Josh Lerner and experts from The Abraaj Group as they discuss the rise of the Growth Markets and the shifting global landscape for investment. 

Key topics discussed include: 

  • What are the “global growth markets”?
  • What makes these markets so attractive today as an investment destination?
  • Why is private equity investment a critical component to a diversified portfolio seeking exposure to growth markets beyond the BRICs?
  • What does it take to succeed as a private equity investor in these markets?
  • What are the challenges that private equity investors face, and what strategies/tools can investors utilize to reduce risks

EMPEA Members: Log in to access full webcast recording and presentation.

 

Panelists include

 

Josh Lerner
Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School

Josh Lerner is the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Finance and Entrepreneurial Management Units. He graduated from Yale College with a Special Divisional Major that combined physics with the history of technology. He worked for several years on issues concerning technological innovation and public policy, at the Brookings Institution, for a public-private task force in Chicago, and on Capitol Hill. He then obtained a Ph.D. from Harvard’s Economics Department.

Much of his research focuses on the structure and role of private equity organizations. This research is collected in two books, “The Venture Capital Cycle” (MIT Press, 1999 and 2004) and “The Money of Invention” (HBS Press, 2001). He is a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Corporate Finance and Productivity Programs, and organizes the NBER Innovation Policy and the Economy Group and the Entrepreneurship Working Group. His latest books are “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “International Differences in Entrepreneurship.” He is the winner of the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Research Award.

 

Purshotam Ramchandani
Partner, The Abraaj Group

Purshotam Ramchandani leads The Abraaj Group’s strategic initiatives and is a key member of the CIO office. During the past eight years, Mr Ramchandani has been involved in executing several investments and has worked on the launch of new Funds. In 2009, he helped set up the Group’s Saudi office.

He has more than 12 years of experience in private equity and investment banking. Before joining The Abraaj Group, he was an Investment Banking Associate at Lehman Brothers in New York.

Mr Ramchandani graduated in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin.

 

Shakir Merali
Managing Director, The Abraaj Group

Shakir Merali is a member of The Abraaj Group's team in Africa where he oversees a number of investments in East Africa and also manages the Group's Africa Health Fund, an innovative impact investment initiative aimed at improving the quality of health services for low-income populations across the continent.

Prior to joining The Abraaj Group, Mr Merali invested in early to mid-stage companies as a Director at Geocapital Partners in London, and has previously advised a number of Fortune 500 companies as a strategy consultant with the Monitor Group.

Mr Merali holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance and a Master’s in Information Systems, both from the London School of Economics and Political Science.