Investing in Africa may no longer be just for die-hard do-gooders, but it probably still doesn’t hurt for most investors in the troubled continent to combine their capitalist instincts with charitable impulses.
That very much appears to be the case for Bob Geldof, the wild-haired onetime lead singer of the Boomtown Rats , a passionate Africa activist. It was “Sir Bob” who in 1985 organized the Live Aid concert for famine relief in Ethiopia.
But now he is reportedly trying to put together what might be called “Live Invest": Geldof, 59, is seeking to raise as much as $1 billion from institutions to invest in Africa. Is he serious? Well, he is said to have approached well-connected fund-of-hedge-funds manager Arki Busson, who has a philanthropic bent, for help.
