<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW to Participate in the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit</h1>This week, one of RENEW’s founding partners, Laura Davis, will be speaking on a panel on Crowdfunding and Angel Investing at the 6th Annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). This important event is to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from July 25 to 26. According to the U.S. government, the summit will be a “gathering of entrepreneurs at all stages of business development, business leaders, mentors, and high-level government officials.”*<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/ges_logo_47154ab1b2.png"></figure>RENEW is excited to be a part of the president’s initiative to generate new investment in entrepreneurs around the world, by not only attending this event, but also by facilitating impact investments in small to medium sized enterprises in Ethiopia. President Obama will be traveling to Ethiopia after the close of the summit, which will mark the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president will have visited the country.Immediately prior to GES, Laura will also be participating in discussions surrounding women and local entrepreneurship alongside Village Capital, Steve and Jean Case of the <a href="http://casefoundation.org/">Case Foundation</a>, and Jim Sorenson of the <a href="http://sgiicenter.com/">SGII Center</a>.

Laura Davis to speak on a panel at the 6th annual gathering in Nairobi, Kenya.

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RENEW to Participate in the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Case Study: Afghanistan</h1>PIONEERING A NEW MODEL FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:100%;"><img src="/uploads/graphic_renew_afghanistan_web_d0529c4229.png"></figure>RENEW was hired by the U.S. Department of Defense to attract impact “angel” investors to Afghanistan. RENEW spent six months working in Afghanistan to build a vetted portfolio of investment opportunities for investors.We organized a group of angel investors in Washington, D.C. for a retreat to preview the portfolio, and then escorted them to Afghanistan to attend a “deal show” to meet with local entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs received pre-investment support from experienced financial analysts, training and coaching from investment professionals, and were then introduced to seasoned investors.The investor group is currently working with the U.S. government to set up an impact fund, and continue to explore other opportunities in Afghanistan. Key deliverables included:-A portfolio of vetted SME investments -An Afghanistan Angel Group -A matchmaking “deal show” in AfghanistanKey outcomes were that SMEs in RENEW’s portfolio received over $1M in investments from local and foreign investors.FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR PROJECTS IN AFGHANISTAN:<a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/newsroom/Afghanistan%20Looking%20Beyond%20the%20News" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Afghanistan: Looking Beyond the News</a><a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/newsroom/Photos%20from%20Afghanistan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Photos from Afghanistan</a> <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/newsroom/No%20Guts%20No%20Glory" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">No Guts. No Glory.</a> <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/newsroom/Afghanistan%20Portfolio%20Update">Visit RENEW's Afghanistan Blog Page</a>

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Case Study: Afghanistan

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Afghanistan: Looking Beyond the News</h1><figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/DSC_0012_1_0_0964633060.jpg"></figure>Herat is in the news more and more these days, and not for good reasons. But from where I sit, I have hope that these blips of bad news represent the darkness that comes before dawn. The stories that fuel my hope are in front of me every day as I go about my work here. I see the dawn coming in the form of business owners who are making it despite pretty significant odds, the university students that are going to school and starting businesses, people buying and selling goods everywhere, new manufacturing facilities going up in the nearby industrial park, semitrailers packed to the gills with goods swaying down the road to market. Despite 30 plus years of war, the economy is showing signs of growth.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/DSC_0188_2_cfd7bc533d.jpg"></figure>According to the <a href="http://www.aisa.org.af/">Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA)</a>, there was only one telephone landline per 1,000 people in 2002 and no Internet Service Providers (ISP). As of 2010, Afghanistan is leapfrogging over the lack of copper lines and there are 13.3 million cellular subscribers, serviced by five main GSM operators. Their towers now cover 80 percent of this mountainous country. The cost of activating a cellular phone has dropped from $200 to $25 dollars. What a story of how investment can change even a war torn landscape in less than 10 years.Local experts estimate that 20 to 25 percent of Herati’s now have laptop or desktop computers in their homes. Five years ago, the average person didn’t know about the Internet or have an email address, but that is all changing as Afghanistan comes online. There is opportunity everywhere I look...Who wants to be a part of Afghanistan’s next big ICT growth spurt? I know some great entrepreneurs looking for partners. Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more. &nbsp;

Herat is in the news more and more these days, and not for good reasons.

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Afghanistan: Looking Beyond the News

<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW's Brand Story</h1>Picture it.Your plane just landed in a new country. Based on what other people have mentioned, you are excited to explore all the possibilities of this new place. As you exit the plane you are faced with the hard realities that you already knew. You don’t speak the local language or understand the native customs. And more than that, the long trip has left you exhausted and bleary-eyed. You scan the airport for something, anything recognizable — a sign, symbol or friendly face that will point you in the right direction.Enter RENEW: navigating today’s emerging economies. &nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-left"><img src="/uploads/renew_logo_tag_small_23_7253e02813.png"></figure>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;That’s the back story for our brand, and it’s the analogy that we like to use to explain what we do for the Impact Angel Network. For small and medium enterprises and investors, we act as personal navigators, strategically guiding them to achieve success.Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC.

Picture it. Your plane just landed in a new country.

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RENEW's Brand Story

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Investing in Unfamiliar Territory</h1>We believe that some of the strongest opportunities for financial growth and social impact currently exist in Africa. Contact us if you would like to define a strategy for investing in emerging African economies. Here are ten reasons to consider investing in Africa:<ul><li>African markets offer among the highest return on investment in the world. Nearly every African stock market index outperformed the S&amp;P 500 over the past three years in U.S. dollar terms—in most cases by a significant margin. A sampling of overall equity market returns in 2006: Botswana +34%, Cote d’Ivoire +17.7%, Ghana +109%, Kenya +18%. (Source: Barron’s</li><li>U.S. investors are behind the curve. According to the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa’s economic performance over the past five years suggests that it may have achieved a milestone in its quest for sustained growth. Growth averaged 4.0% between 2000 and 2005, compared with less than 1% during the early 1990s. In 2006, GDP expanded by 5.6% in sub-Saharan Africa and is projected to climb to 5.8% through 2008. The Congressional Research Service reports that “the growth seen in the current period is less volatile and more evenly distributed among African countries than in the past.” Yet over half of the $19.6 billion total U.S. investment in this region is in the petroleum sector. Reuters reports that the U.S. is so far behind that it had little presence at a recent meeting of the mobile phone industry group, the GSM Association, to discuss a $50 billion investment in sub-Saharan Africa in the next five years. Many such non-extractive sectors are nearing a tipping point, ready for investment.</li><li>Multinationals are re-assessing Africa. Reuters reports that major U.S. companies watching Africa’s rapidly improving investment climate will be examining ways to increase their activity. Merck &amp; Co, Boeing Co, 3M Co, Cargill, General Motors, Chrysler, Hewlett-Packard and Coca-Cola were among the participants in the 2007 U.S. Africa Business Summit.</li><li>New opportunities are emerging in consumer industries. Brisk demand for the commodities that comprise traditional large-scale foreign investment in Africa—oil, mining, agriculture—is creating secondary opportunities in consumer markets. Banking, telecommunications and tourism are among the sectors receiving a boost; renewable energy has the potential to leapfrog infrastructure obstacles the same way mobile phones have done. (Source: MoneyWeek, Investec Asset Management)</li><li>Information gaps remain, even as investment opportunities multiply. “I think there is a lack of information about the quality of opportunities and potential that continues to exist in Africa within the American business community.” (Robert Mosbacher, President of the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, speaking to Reuters). Renew aims to bridge those gaps by conducting comprehensive business assessments tailored to the needs of U.S. investors.</li><li>RENEW focuses on areas where experts say African markets can make progress. Experience suggests that fund managers are leery of Africa for two primary reasons: 1) Markets are comparatively very small; 2) Investments are illiquid—it’s too difficult to exit. In their 2007 analysis of African capital markets, experts from the Center for Global Development chart the following path forward:“A long-term strategy for attracting equity investment should concentrate on increasing the supply of available securities—since demand will come naturally through the market. Increasing supply means tackling the barriers of small market and firm size to encourage the growth of more and larger firms on the continent. Solutions to increasing the size and scope of the African private sector must focus on improving the investment climate, reducing the level of risk and uncertainty, and providing greater means for small, indigenous firms to survive and grow.”RENEW mitigates risk, channels needed resources and provides the expertise that will enable promising firms to grow and compete globally.</li><li>The continent is opportunity rich. “Many ideas that have been tested in the developed world, like cell phones, are still novel in Africa. Good business ideas and capable management are [the elements] in short supply. Most institutional investors are still frustrated by the quality of the deals available.” At the same time, few market sectors are saturated with products or teeming with competition, leaving plenty of niches for new ventures. As a result, “differentiated products can command a significant premium.” (Kehinde Oyeleke, executive director of Asset &amp; Resource Management, interviewed by Knowledge@Wharton).</li><li>Africa boasts extraordinary entrepreneurs. Local versions of Apple’s Steve Jobs are changing the playing field throughout Africa by creating enterprises that drive progress. Adenike Ogunlesi built a winning clothing brand by mixing African fabrics with Western styles and fabrics. She’s grown her business to the point where her company, Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, is not only a leader in Nigeria but receives orders from WalMart as well. Ogunlesi managed to scrape together enough capital from friends and family; others like her need access to better options. (Source: Africa Open For Business).</li><li>There is a new generation of African leaders who understand the promise and possibility of business in Africa. Paul Kagame — President of Rwanda and winner of the 2006 and 2007 ICT Africa Award for his innovative use of information and communications technology—has earned the nickname “The Entrepreneur President” for his business and technology-driven plan for Rwanda. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Finance Minister of Nigeria and currently a director at the World Bank, emphasizes reform, economic growth and business opportunity. “The best way to serve Africa today is to help Africans stand on their own two feet, to create jobs,” she says. Imagine if Africans did not depend on others to cure their diseases or educate their children. Jobs enable Africans to do these things for themselves. (Source: Forbes, TED Conference)</li><li>The big picture is getting better. Since 2000, more than two-thirds of African countries have had multiparty democratic elections. In the past three years, the average rate of growth on the continent has moved from 2.5% to 5%, better than many of the wealthiest OECD countries. Conflicts in Africa are down from an average of 12 per year a decade ago to three per year today. (Source: World Bank, TED Conference)</li></ul><figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/i_Stock_000005377907_FOR_Proposal_1_38668a1611.jpg"></figure>

We believe that some of the strongest opportunities for financial growth and social impact currently exist in Africa.

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Investing in Unfamiliar Territory

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Afghanistan Portfolio Update</h1><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:100%;"><img src="/uploads/renew_banners_afghan_7_47313654ae.png"></figure>Afghanistan. ICT. SMEs. Herat. TFBSO. One hundred meetings later, the RENEW team has identified a portfolio of six good ICT SMES. Several are located in Herat. Several are based in Kabul with plans to expand to Herat. There is more happening in ICT in Afghanistan than one would expect. We have a number of investors interested in our new model, and we are excited to help formulate the first angel investment group for Afghanistan. &nbsp;

...the RENEW team has identified a portfolio of six good ICT SMES.

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Afghanistan Portfolio Update

<h1 style="text-align:center;">How the Impact Angel Network Makes Investments in Africa</h1>One of RENEW's core beliefs is that great businesses are at the heart of a healthy economy, and that the best way to make an impact in a developing country is by making an investment. RENEW has created a short, fun, step-by-step overview of how the Impact Angel Network is transforming African economies by investing in growing businesses.<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://youtu.be/5Kly2CJvNkk"></oembed></figure>Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.

Transforming African economies by investing in growing businesses.

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How the Impact Angel Network Makes Investments in Africa

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Photos from Afghanistan</h1>Photos from our recent trips to Afghanistan:<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/Afghanistan_Collage_c5ac6e61c9.jpg"></figure>

Enjoy photos from our recent trips to Afghanistan.

Photos from Afghanistan

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Count Down to Uganda</h1> RENEW’s Matt Davis will deploy to Kampala, Uganda in late October, 2008 as the next step in establishing RENEW’s long term presence in East Africa. Over the next months, he will continue to build RENEW’s network in Africa, provide information services to the IAN abroad, establish and test impact investment metrics, source and coordinate opportunities, help grow investments, and work to increase the efficiency with which impact investment capital is deployed to East Africa

Investing in Africa