The Managing partner of Lion’s Range Group, Victor Williams, was keynote speaker at the second edition of the Diaspora Investment Conference held, on October 19 2024. The Sierra Leonean-American finance and sports and leader shared his perspective on how the diasporans can successfully  invest in Sierra Leone and other countries in the African continent. He also called for the establishment of a ‘Diaspora Investment Fund’

 Williams’ experiences are shaped by his three-decade-plus of driving business growth in both the U.S. and Africa. “We are living in a century that is going to be an African century,”  said Williams. He was referring to the demographic surge of Africans by 2050, when one in every four people on the planet will be African, and of that group, one in every three young people will be African.

 The World Economic Forum says Africa is going to have the largest workforce, surpassing those of India and China – more than 2.5 billion people. “This presents an unprecedented opportunity for Africa and for its diaspora to be an engine of global economic growth, importantly, to reset and shape the narrative of Africa as a cultural force and to harness our collective political power to shape how Africa sits at various global tables,” added Williams.

The Challenge

Williams said Africa’s prospect in labor force development, though very exciting, comes with challenges. 40% of Africans in the continent live in what the UN calls “extreme poverty”, earning less than $2.15 a day. The number is higher in Sierra Leone – 43%. The country’s 55%  life expectancy is also lower than the continental figure which is 64%. 

Sierra Leone has a very young population already at the median age of 19, and an amazing 40% of the population is under the age of 15. What Williams finds “deeply challenging” is the low pace of job creation  amidst what he calls a “demographic bulge”. “Across the continent, more than 10 million youth enter the job force each year, but only 3 million formal jobs are being created,” he said. 

The numbers are more stuck in Sierra Leone according to Williams. The country’s formal sector jobs account for only 10 to 15% of the workforce. With about 100,000 young people entering the workforce each year. Only five to 10,000 formal jobs are created annually. 

Jobs in Sierra Leone are created by the government, multinational investors, development agencies and local enterprises. However, these jobs are distressingly low.

Through diaspora investment, more jobs can be created.  The areas of opportunity in Sierra Leone include, agriculture, energy, including clean and renewable energy, infrastructure, health care, education, technology, financial services, insurance, logistics, transportation, sports and the creative economy. 

“All of these are areas of need, and therefore they are areas of opportunity, Williams said. “We cannot rely on external parties to take care of our long term future that is not sustainable.”

Victor Williams delivering the keynote address at the Sierra Leone Diaspora Investment Conference
Photo credits: VR&C Marketing

Guides for Driving Investment in Sierra Leone and other countries in the continent

Williams has worked in about 25 countries across the continent in business and banking. He also built and ran a sports enterprise. Williams shared three tips to succeed in building and driving diaspora investment, or, in fact, any investment to the continent. 

“Have the Courage to be Different”

Africa is in need of investments. William said unfortunately diaspora entrepreneurs and others have over the years come up with “businesses that look exactly the same as everybody else’s business.”  This, in his opinion, has made investors fall into low margin businesses and ones that may not grow quickly. 

Williams said that this is a consequence of entrepreneurs not taking their time to craft and understand the market, understand the customers, and come up with an innovative way of doing things.

A further downside to this is that similar ideas attract competition. On the flip side, competitive advantage lies in innovation.

A “consistent question” that investors seeking loans will be asked when they go after funding is how they are different from others. This should be given a thorough consideration, William advised.

“The other thing I’ll say from experience is that different ideas attract excitement, they attract partners, they attract funding, because people see something that’s new, and then they want to support that.”

Sierra Leonean diaspora at the SLDIC 2024
Photo credits: VR&C Marketing

Adopting a Long-Term Perspective

Williams described the African investment environment as “inherently risky.” By that he means anything and everything can go wrong in an increasingly unpredictable environment. To drive a successful investment, diasporan investors should adopt a long term perspective – be ready to be in the business for the long haul.

“As you engage in these businesses, think about it as something that you’re willing to do for 10 plus years, 15 years, 20 because if you’re looking to do it for five years, you may just find yourself in the wrong part of the circle,” said Williams.

This long term perspective should also be shared by your shareholders. Williams said people who are looking for returns in the short-term are not the right people to partner with.

“I think one of the things that the diaspora can bring as investors into businesses is that long term perspective, because we believe in the country and we want to ensure its success.” 

Transitioning From Personal Trust to Institutional Trust

A third and a huge point for Williams in driving successful investment in Africa is the need to transition from personal trust to institutional trust. What does this mean in this context? While this may not be true for all Africans, Williams asserted that many Sierra Leoneans are afraid of partners. Consequently, most businesses are set up and run by sole proprietors.  

“Rarely do we see ourselves in a place where we take it upon ourselves to build companies, even at the startup level, with a range of shareholders drawn from our community,” said Williams. Working collectively has been a familiar strategy Willams has seen in many places in the continent where Africans drive successful investments. 

The absence of this strategy comes with consequences. ‘It will limit our impact, what we can accomplish, the scale of the enterprises we can build, and our ability to take risks,” Williams said. “This is because all the risk is falling on one man, as opposed to being dispersed amongst a range of shareholders.”

Bringing other people into your enterprises comes with benefits. “You expand the amount of knowledge you have, the amount of networks you have, the rooms you can go into,” said Williams.  “So I think it is critical for us to make that shift, to go from operating as individuals to operating in a collective way and in trusting institutions, not just people.

Panel Discussion at the SLDIC 2024
Photo credits: VR&C Marketing

Call for a Diaspora Investment Fund

While ending his keynote address, Williams called for the establishment of “a collective Diaspora Investment Fund for Sierra Leone.  The proposed Fund should be run by professional managers that invest with insight, understanding and trustworthiness in Sierra Leone, and that support innovative businesses that are solving real problems for Sierra Leoneans. 

“It would be one that would then channel funds from the diaspora in an aggregated way towards worthy investments in Sierra Leone,” he said. 

According to Williams this would significantly scale up the impact of what Sierra Leonean entrepreneurs can do and the change they can bring to the investment environment in the country. 

“So I leave you all, all of us, with that challenge – the challenge to be innovative, the challenge of adopting a long term perspective, and the challenge of transitioning from working individually to working collectively,” he ended.

Vickie Remoe, founder SLDIC (L) and Victor Williams (R)

About Victor Williams

Victor Williams is a distinguished finance and sports business leader with over 30 years of transformative experience driving business growth across the U.S and Africa. As the former CEO of NBA Africa from 2020 to 2023, he spearheaded the league’s basketball and business development initiatives, significantly enhancing the NBA’s footprint on the continent. 

Before this role, Williams served as the Executive Head of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) for African regions at Standard Bank Group, where he was instrumental in shaping the strategy, execution, and financial performance for the bank’s corporate, sovereign, and institutional investor client relationships in 19 sub-saharan African countries.