Q&A: Marlon Chigwende - Carlyle Africa

Marlon Chigwende, Carlyle’s co-head for Africa, speaks to Private Equity Africa about the firm’s strategy to apply its global expertise to the local African setting.


What is the story behind Carlyle setting up an African strategy?

The Carlyle story in Africa is a story of growth. Over the past 10 years, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has grown on average about 6% per annum in terms of real gross domestic product (GDP). Only India and China have grown faster during that period.

We believe that this progress is here to stay, and the quality of the current growth supports this notion. If you look at the 6% historic growth, about two thirds of that has come from internal domestic consumption, driven by the rising middle class. The other third has been driven by rising commodity prices.


What are the advantages of having a global footprint, when it comes to implementing your African strategy?

The global footprint allows us to see what is happening in other markets and apply it to local situations. This means we can not only tap into the developed market expertise, but we can link this with knowledge acquired in other emerging markets that offer similar dynamics, growth characteristics and challenges.

The Carlyle model is one of localisation, because private equity is a local business. We have more than 30 offices around the world, as we strongly believe that you need to be on the ground in the individual markets to fully understand what is going on.

We bring global expertise to the African situation. It is still an African strategy, adapted to suit what is happening on the ground.

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