Our core purpose is to support sustainable communities around
the world. At its most basic, that purpose is focused on those with
the least resources and the greatest need for economic opportunity
and basic services that build education, health care and good
governance. One approach we have found is to apply our skills and
experience in evaluating and assessing commercial enterprises, to
provide reliable information to investors and others interested in
helping to develop a particular area.
Since 2007 we have been working with the Millennium Cities
Initiative (MCI), an urban counterpart to the Millennium Villages
Project. MCI seeks to help selected mid-sized cities across
sub-Saharan Africa to formulate integrated city development
strategies, including attracting foreign investment to stimulate
economic growth and development.
MCI is led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth
Institute and special adviser on the Millennium Development Goals
to the United Nations Secretary-General.
Our firm's professionals work with MCI to provide reliable
investment reports that highlight commercially viable business
opportunities in the regions surrounding the millennium cities.
To date, we have produced four Millennium City reports (Kumasi
in Ghana, Kisumu in Kenya, State of Ondo in Nigeria and Blantyre in
Malawi) and two industry reports: sugar production in Kisumu and
bamboo bike production in Kumasi.
The bamboo bike project is particularly interesting. Studies
confirmed that bicycles generally represent the best mode of
transport for rural Ghanaians, but the machines available in the
country are often of poor quality and unsuitable for local needs.
Making better and more useful bicycles, using locally grown bamboo
for the frames, presents an opportunity both to improve the
standard of living for rural Ghanaians and to create jobs for
inhabitants of the rural areas near Kumasi. But would it work as a
commercial enterprise?
Our analysis of the local market, and of the costs of producing
and marketing these machines, suggests that the potential
profitability of a bamboo bicycle facility depends on the scale of
the operation. As an illustration, the five-year net present value
(NPV) of a bicycle producer capturing approximately 7 per cent of
the actual current market (i.e., the annual production and sale of
20,000 bamboo bicycles) is approximately US$ 50,000.
A more aggressive scenario, capturing 50 per cent of the market
(i.e., annual production and sale of 333,333 bamboo bicycles) would
yield a five-year NPV of nearly US$ 4 million. This is crucial
information for anyone considering setting up a venture of this
kind, not least for government agencies wanting to attract
commercial investors.
More conventionally, our report on Ondo State in Nigeria
provides detailed information on the wide range of agricultural,
mineral and energy investment opportunities in the region, but
warns investors to factor in "…poor infrastructure facilities which
significantly increase cost of production, a high level of
government bureaucracy and complicated procedures for obtaining
requisite licenses and permits".
Similarly, our work on the Kisumu region of Kenya identified
"…significant potential to commercialize the agricultural and
livestock sectors including processing products within the
region".
Good information is an absolute prerequisite for any
public-private partnership that is intended to facilitate local and
regional trade and deliver transformation. We believe that the work
we are doing with MCI demonstrates how a professional services
business can apply its skills to deliver market-effective
knowledge. Bringing together investors, entrepreneurs and
governments for the benefit of people in the regions and industries
we have studied, and creating employment and the potential for
changed lives and new opportunities.