The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Executive has appointed an advisory committee (Africa Board Advisory Committee) to help the JSE Africa Board, part of the Main equities board, to achieve its mission and strategic objective to provide a world class stock exchange platform that attracts capital to the African continent.
Speaking at a media briefing in Accra today (Friday, 8 April) Maureen Dlamini, Executive Head of the JSE Africa Board says an independent advisory committee, has been appointed by the CEO of the JSE in consultation with the JSE Executive and Board. The advisory committee is to be chaired by Mr. Nathan Mintah, a past partner at private equity firm Kingdom Zephyr Africa Management Company and with over 18 years of investment banking and operating experience.
“The Africa Board Advisory Committee will help us achieve the objectives espoused by the JSE Africa Board that include attracting foreign direct investment to Africa in order to provide the finance necessary for development, and to allow the people of Africa to share in the African growth story.”
“The Advisory Committee comprises nine members from a number of African countries and has been created as a concrete demonstration that these objectives need to be adopted by all Africans, in order for us to grow and prosper. Membership of the Advisory Committee will also grow and change over time, to better reflect the constantly changing continent that is Africa.”
Dlamini says that the task of the Chairperson and members of the Advisory Committee will be to promote the business, goals and objectives of the JSE Africa Board to the main stakeholders of the investment community. “These include issuers, investors, service providers (i.e. banks, auditing firms, legal firms etc), governments and regulators.”
The official launch of the Advisory Committee takes place today at a gathering of distinguished guests representing governments, business, issuers, exchanges, regulators, members of the financial community and investors in Accra.
Speakers at the event include Mr Nathan Mintah, Chairman of the Advisory Committee; Mr Kofi S Yamoah, MD Of the Ghana Stock Exchange; Maureen Dlamini, Executive Head for Africa at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and a member of the Advisory Committee; and Mr Bolaji Balogun, CEO of Chapel Hill Denham Group, Nigeria and also a member of the Advisory Committee.
Mr Mintah says his appointment as Chairperson of the advisory committee is a timely and important challenge. “We need a concerted effort to successfully promote the growth of capital markets on the African continent and the JSE Africa Board is the ideal platform to achieve this goal.”
In terms of the Mandate and Functions of the Africa Board Advisory Committee the latter is also mandated to consider and advise on operational matters relating to the Africa Board,
- in particular review of strategy and development of relevant new products that facilitate capital flows into Africa;
- advise from time to time on any proposed amendments and/or improvements to the JSE Africa Board model;
- assist business development efforts by facilitating key meetings in jurisdictions where Advisory Committee members have influence;
- offer advice on protocol, regulatory interpretation in different jurisdictions and assist in sourcing funding for the operations of the Africa Board.
Dlamini says the world has become acutely aware of the abundant business opportunities in Africa. “The JSE Africa Board is ready and able to provide African companies that have pan-African strategies with a springboard to increase their footprint in Africa, using a trading platform that is widely respected,” she says.
The JSE, which operates Africa’s largest stock exchange, has had two listings since creating its Africa board in 2009. Trustco, a micro financial services group has gained 20% on the board since its offering in February 2009. Wilderness Holdings, a Botswana-based ecotourism company has climbed 8.7% since it listed in April 2010. Both companies have primary listings in their home markets.