<h1 style="text-align:center;">The Angels Return</h1>&nbsp;We recently hosted another group of impact angel investors here in Addis Ababa, and I thought it would be good to continue with our tradition of sharing some about their time here.First, a quick recap of what RENEW is doing: RENEW is implementing a new model for how the West can engage Africa. Rather than the traditional model of aid and charity, RENEW’s model uses the West’s capital to invest in high-quality local companies. It is important to clarify that these are profit-oriented investments…not grants, aid or free money of any kind. By applying a market-based strategy that is more appropriate to the realities on the ground here in Africa, local companies will not only create jobs and pay taxes, but provide good returns to investors. This strategy is shaped by three trends RENEW sees happening in Africa and the West. These are:<ol><li>The rise of angel investors versus venture capital funds as a way for wealthy investors to use their capital to support higher risk investments</li><li>The potential of SMEs in Africa, and the rise of the African middle class and private sector</li><li>The formalization of impact investing as a more favorable mechanism to create sustainable impact</li></ol>After a year of rolling this strategy out in Ethiopia, we feel we accurately predicted the market. We recently helped close our first angel group investment in a local energy company, and we have a number of deals scheduled to close this year.This year RENEW has hosted over 25 investors from the West in Ethiopia. We have formalized partnerships with two funds and have closed our first investment. We have a number of investments we are in the process of closing for other angel groups that are forming across the U.S. and Europe.This trip was a little unique because one of the members was a return investor, and the trip was focused on the coffee value chain. We looked at companies along almost the entire supply chain of coffee and it was an eye-opening experience. Here’s the rundown:We had…<ul><li>Site visits with five local companies</li><li>One trip to Yirgechaffe – one of the most well-know coffee farming areas in the country</li><li>A tour of the largest coffee processing factory in Ethiopia</li><li>A reception where entrepreneurs from over 20 businesses had a chance to socialize with investors, and we counted at least two business-to-business deals take place</li><li>A trip to Lalibela and Gondor</li></ul><figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_collage_out_and_about_coffeeland_001_e1a11aebd3.jpg"></figure>There were five investors in the group (excluding the RENEW team), all with various backgrounds including medicine, fund management, entrepreneurship and financial management. Most had skills that spanned multiple industries. Some had extensive experience traveling in Africa. Some had not visited for years; others make regular trips. Needless to say, all of this offered us hours of discussions in the car between meetings, and stories in the evenings over dinners.The results... In the end, we got strong commitments to move forward on some opportunities. There’s a lot of work to be done, but overall the trip was a huge success.Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.

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The Angels Return

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Impact Angels Uniting</h1>It's 6:30am on a humid morning in Dallas, Texas. We’re crisscrossing though the streets of this beautiful city in search of a hip breakfast spot where we’re scheduled to meet a group of potential investors, friends and curious guests for breakfast. They are coming to hear a very different story about Africa. The table fills up with business executives, college students, young professionals and savvy connectors. After some formalities and a few rounds of coffee, we start: “We are not here to talk about giving money, poverty, problems in Africa or microfinance. I’m a capitalist. I believe in profit-making business, and that’s what I am here to talk about. RENEW is creating a new path for the West to engage with Africa. The services we provide are not for everyone. The investments we do are risky. And we are selective about who we work with.”After 20 minutes we finish, and the questions start flowing in with far more excitement than doubt: “What types of sectors are you looking at?” “How do you structure your investments?” “How do you form an angel group?” “When’s your next trip?” “Do you offer internship opportunities?” America is tired of the old Africa story. They are hungry for someone to tactically explain how they can invest in the fastest growing economies in the world.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_dinner_fort_worth_0_9d3ba544fb.jpg"></figure>This was just one story. In May and June the RENEW team had many of these meetings, with similar outcomes in each city: “We want to start an impact angel group.” We had meetings in Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, DC and Georgia - in total 25 meetings with 38 impact angels, eight investment partners, and one fund. In cities like Charlotte, North Carolina, impact angel groups meet on a regular basis to pore over financial statements, negotiate terms with entrepreneurs and plan their next investment trip to Ethiopia. Across the United States impact angel groups are forming to take up ethical capitalism - impact investing - in Africa. The groups are being started by successful executives and entrepreneurs that know how to start, grow and run companies. They will be making direct investments into small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in East Africa with the goal of building market-leading firms, creating jobs, and getting good returns. I liken it to Warren Buffet meets Indian Jones.There is something refreshing and satisfying in the voices of the people as they leave our breakfast meeting, as if we have realigned something in their minds: they can finally talk about ‘investing’ and ‘Africa’ in the same sentence and feel good about it. Some of these guests have traveled to Africa on mission trips and safaris, quietly wondering how they could use their real talents to do more than build schools or give two-day training seminars. And now, they have an answer.At RENEW, we are not doing anything special or innovative. We are simply doing what China, India and many other countries are doing in Africa: getting in on the ground and doing business. And doing it with a steel ethical backbone. Ethical capitalism - it will always triumph. Our impact angels have a front-row seat to Africa’s industrialization, and they are architecting a new way for the U.S. to participate in Africa’s changing story.This week we are hosting an impact angel group from the U.S. here in Ethiopia, with another group coming in July. In August and September, members of the RENEW team will be back in the U.S. holding events in Texas and along the East Coast. If you are interested in joining or forming an impact angel group, or attending one of our events, please contact Kathleen DeLaHoussaye at <a href="mailto:kdelahoussaye@renewcapital.com">kdelahoussaye@renewcapital.com</a>.

It's 6:30am in Dallas, Texas. We’re crisscrossing though the streets of this beautiful city in search of a hip breakfast spot where we’re scheduled to meet a group of potential investors, friends and curious guests for breakfast.

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Impact Angels Uniting

<h1 style="text-align:center;">A Day in the Life: Part II</h1>To read A Day in the Life: Part I, click <a href="day-life.html">here.</a>By 11am we finally arrive at the company. It is a large steel structure tucked in between a row of other steel structures. Like so many others, inside are businesses eager to manufacture products that were once imported from China, but are now being manufactured in Ethiopia. The owner, an engineer, comes out to greet us. He has a clipboard in hand, suggesting that we interrupted him from his work - we did. As we walk inside, the floor of the building is alive with workers welding, pounding and screwing machines together. He was busy doing quality control on the newly minted inventory that will be shipped out to the far corners of the country at the end of the week. The customer is the government. The product is a new seed-planting machine that will help increase yields on tef, one of the country’s staple crops and the signature grain of Ethiopia. After thirty minutes of walking around the plant and speaking with floor managers, we have coffee (“buna”) with the owner. I’m not only trying to understand his business, but to also get a sense of what it will be like to work with him. One of our biggest challenges with companies in Ethiopia is whether they are ready for an investment and understand what it means to work with an investor. If both answers are not favorable, the costs of doing an investment can go through the roof.At 12:30pm we are in the car heading back to the office. We debrief the meeting, fill out our post-meeting form and rigorously score the company. Companies that make it through pre-due diligence are presented to our network of impact angels.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_cac_tall_building_770e10eb1f.jpg"></figure>Around 2pm, Kathleen, our colleague in Texas that manages our investor network, is up, and we start prepping for our impact angel call with the DC chapter, scheduled at 8am Eastern. Problem: the network has been bad all day. Kathleen and I feverishly g-chat back and forth, framing the conversation and the key decisions points so, in case I drop off (99% chance I will), she can easily pick up the ball and continue the conversation. We’ve gotten pretty good at this.It’s now 6pm. Where did the day go? The team is winding down our day as the US team is in full swing along with Addis rush hour traffic. I walk out to the balcony of our office in the TK building to steal a moment to reflect and collect my thoughts. The view to the west is perfect. The sun has fallen below the cloud line and a few rays break through, making the Addis skyline look like a silhouette. The skeleton structures going up almost everywhere give me hope. To the east is Addis International Airport. I watch a huge, Ethiopian Airlines 777 take off before going back into the office to close things up.This week we are hosting another impact angel group from the U.S. here in Ethiopia. In August and September, members of the RENEW team will be back in the U.S. holding events in Texas and along the East Coast. If you are interested in joining or forming an impact angel group, or attending one of our events, please contact Kathleen DeLaHoussaye at <a href="mailto:kdelahoussaye@renewcapital.com">kdelahoussaye@renewcapital.com</a>.

Part II of a typical day in Ethiopia for the RENEW team...

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A Day in the Life: Part II

<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 image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:27.94%;"><img src="/uploads/ges_logo_bc23f6e013.png"></figure>RENEW is excited to be a part of the&nbsp;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>.Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.<a href="http://www.ges2015.org/">*2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit</a>

RENEW to Participate in the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit

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<h1 style="text-align:center;">A Day in the Life</h1>It's 4:00am in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The sounds of the July rain hitting the metal rooftops across Gerji, an up-and-coming burrow of Addis, mixed with the call to prayer from the nearby mosque, can easily lull anyone back to sleep. Nonetheless, I get up and brew myself a strong cup of locally roasted coffee. The US team is winding down their day’s work and my inbox is full of questions, ideas and newsbytes. I triage, and fire off as many responses as I can before I begin working through the day’s priorities.By 5:45am we are at the gym getting our morning exercise in. The gym, Maxview, is one of the largest gyms in East Africa, and another sign of Africa’s rising middle class. At 6am the gym is packed with Ethiopians and expats attending spinning classes, lifting weights and running on treadmills. Although some machines are broken, it’s not for a lack of trying by the owners: the parts are either stuck in Djibouti, or their letter of credit (“LC”) is waiting to be approved by the local bank. For Ethiopian companies, one of the biggest challenges is waiting for an LC to get approved so they can import raw materials, spare parts, etc. The names on the list for LC approvals can start piling up in developing countries like Ethiopia, where foreign currency shortages can bring a trading-to-manufacturing economy to a grinding halt.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_cac_addis_road_2c9738a9d5.jpg"></figure>By 7:45am we’re at the office. The team rolls in and we have our morning check-in. Dawit is meeting with three new companies. Bethel is deep in analysis on a coffee farm. Biruk is working on getting documents approved by the government…a full time job! Tom, who is normally in the US, but is here to help finalize the closing of an investment, is working through the legal documents that need to get notarized by the government. I am reviewing a term sheet that we’re in the process of negotiating with a local company and preparing for a Skype call with investors back in the US. Laura is following up on Kathleen’s emails regarding an upcoming investor trip, and then on the phone, calling the long list of businesses she’s waiting for documents from.At 10am, I hop in the car with Dawit and we’re off to visit a company in Kality - an industrial stretch of Addis along the main (two lane) road connecting Addis to Djibouti Port, and the rest of the world. I yearn for the new four-lane highway that the Chinese are almost done building to open soon. Towns that happen to be positioned along the highway are already becoming cities. Places like Adama, which five years ago didn’t have much but some small shops, now has a car assembly plant, plans for a cable factory, commercial farms, lodges and hotels. Still, until the highway opens, Dawit and I, and what seems like the rest of Addis, are stuck in traffic. Huge trucks mixed in with small cars provide a nice image of true development; an exciting mess of moving parts, both big and small. Because it’s July, the shoulders of the road are lined with hundreds of Caterpillar graders, Scania trucks, bucket loaders, and all other types of industrial equipment that have been put up for the rainy season. Mechanics are busy fixing gears and wires. Once the dry season returns at the end of September, these machines will be back to work, building one of the fastest growing economies in the world.&nbsp;

A day in the life of the RENEW team in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia...

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A Day in the Life

<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW Facilitates Investment into dVentus Technologies</h1>RENEW is pleased to announce the close of an investment into dVentus Technologies, an Ethiopian clean energy company. The investment was capitalized by members of the Ethiopia Angel Network (EAN), the Charlotte, North Carolina-based chapter of RENEW's global Impact Angel Network, along with other members throughout the U.S.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_dventus_b547c80ff5.jpg"></figure>dVentus Technologies is a clean energy company based in Ethiopia focusing on system integration and energy efficiency solutions for renewable energy projects and advanced transportation. The angel investors began discussions with dVentus' CEO Daniel Gizaw in February 2013 during an <a href="https://renewcapital.com/investor-lounge/econ-tourism">Econ-Tourism trip</a> to Addis Ababa.The EAN was drawn to dVentus both for the high potential for social impact and the company's exemplary management team. Mr. Gizaw has 25 years' experience developing and manufacturing the latest energy conversion technology. He and members of his team have worked on a variety of high technology innovations for General Electric, Ford Motor Company, NASA and United Technologies, among others.The investment will allow dVentus to develop prototypes of energy efficiency products including smart grid application solutions. dVentus plans to manufacture and deliver these technologies to Ethiopian and international clients. The efficiencies created by these systems could save the equivalent of a large hydroelectric dam. Anticipated social impacts include 200 new highly skilled, professional and primarily engineering jobs and millions of Ethiopians with access to more reliable, efficient energy.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_dventus3_69cd87cf94.jpg"></figure>Tip Moore, one of the members of the Ethiopia Angel Network, is hopeful about the implications the investment will have for Ethiopia and other African countries. "We are extremely excited about our investment in dVentus. This investment will allow dVentus to take their operations to an even greater level and help Ethiopians better manage their energy. Energy management is the wave of the future and dVentus is helping lead the way."RENEW is excited to be part of Africa's changing story and we are thrilled to see the potential of this investment unfold in Ethiopia. &nbsp;

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RENEW closes an investment into an Ethiopian clean energy company.

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RENEW Facilitates Investment into dVentus Technologies

<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW Represented on Impact Investing Panel</h1>RENEW's Tom Scriven joined several others in the field of impact investing for a panel discussion at <a href="http://business.gwu.edu/CIBER/facultydevelopment/FDIBWelcome.cfm">George Washington University's School of Business</a> on June 14. The panel, 'Impact Investing: Building Institutions Through Investment', was part of a week-long workshop hosted by GWSB on succeeding in emerging markets and the role of institutions.Tom joined Ambassador John Simon of <a href="http://www.totalimpactadvisors.com/">Total Impact Advisors</a> and Randall T. Kempner of <a href="http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/aspen-network-development-entrepreneurs">Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs</a> for a robust discussion on the topic. The panel was moderated by Dr. Reid W. Click, director of GW-CIBER at GWSB.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/gw_panel_0_f82d3af854.jpg"></figure>

RENEW's Tom Scriven joined George Washington University's discussion on impact investing in June.

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RENEW Represented on Impact Investing Panel

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Out and About in Ethiopia - The Coffee Ceremony</h1>The coffee ceremony is part of daily life in Ethiopia. First, the green beans are roasted, creating a glorious aroma. Then the beans are ground, traditionally with a wooden mortar and pestle, but now more commonly in an electric grinder. The ground coffee then goes into a clay vessel, called a jebena, along with water, and the vessel is placed on the fire.Then the fun begins - sweet popcorn, incense and the most delightful brew. I've asked many and they say there is no religious meaning behind the ceremony, but the smells, taste and time to savor offer a welcome relief in the midst of any busy day. Incense, such as frankincense or gum arabic, is burned on hot coals that sit on a tiny clay base. The coffee is poured into small cups - Cini in Amharic - and more rounds are brewed. The first round of coffee is called "Abol," the second "Tona" and the third "Bereka", which means "to be blessed." And one of the most surprising parts for me is that some people choose salt in their coffee instead of sugar!<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/coffee_ceremony_81936bc994.jpg"></figure>

The coffee ceremony is a daily part of life in Ethiopia...

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Out and About in Ethiopia - The Coffee Ceremony

<h1 style="text-align:center;">In the News…The Africa Beats</h1>Impact Investing Huffington Post - "Impact investing is an effort to nudge more commercial investment capital into the social investing space by getting them to consider the social impacts of their investments alongside financial returns using double or triple bottom line approaches. In its ideal form, impact investing holds great promise for shifting significant sums of capital. According to a recent research report by the Monitor Group, the impact investing industry could grow from its present $50 billion to $500 billion in assets within the next decade." <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-f-ince/why-are-we-stomping-on-th_b_3231643.html">Read full article</a>Invest in Africa WSJ - "Nine out of 15 of the world's fastest growing countries today are African. Over the past decade, the continent's economies have grown at an average 5% per annum. Foreign direct investment, which stood at $9 billion at the turn of the millennium, last year exceeded $80 billion. Far from being a flash in the pan, this is the result of a sustained period of increasingly sophisticated economic management and stable politics." <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578485234078541160.html?utm_source=Copy+of+Africa+Center+for+Strategic+Studies+-+Media+Review+for+May+17,+2013&amp;utm_campaign=5/20/2013&amp;utm_medium=email">Read full article</a>ENCA - "Three African countries have been listed in the top ten of the 102 best places in the world to invest. A report by the US think tank, Foreign Policy has ranked countries by their attractiveness as investment destinations. Southern Africa’s Botswana, East Africa’s Rwanda and West Africa’s Ghana have all been listed among the 10 best places in the world to invest. This is based on the ease of doing business, the return on investments and the stability of the country. In first place on the continent and second globally is Botswana. Botswana is one of Africa’s least populated and wealthiest countries." <a href="http://www.enca.com/africa/africa-among-best-invest">Read full article</a>SMEs in Africa All Africa - "As an African entrepreneur, I keenly await the outcomes of the 2013 World Economic Forum on Africa. One of the key issues to be discussed is how to accelerate economic diversification to deliver on Africa’s promise. This can be explored on three different levels: the types of industry and economic activity carried out across the continent; the promotion of workplace inclusivity; and the rectification of some of the economic imbalances in the demographics of many African economies." <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201305091085.html">Read full article</a>

Welcome to RENEW's In the News. The following post includes highlights on topics such as Investing in Africa, Impact Investing, and Investing in Ethiopia.